Modern House

Just some more house porn to get excited by, or if you're in the market (and the money), to actually own. This is the Hollander House, built North of Sydney by architect David Hollander, and it's for sale right now!

The house was built in 1969, and designed to look like a giant rock. Hollander adheres to Frank Lloyd Wright's principles of organic architecture, and has said of his design that he chose curves which he thought were correct aesthetically.

So who wants to put in with me to buy it? I don't have money but I promise to do the dishes every night!

Raro Holiday

As I mentioned in my last post, we just returned from Rarotonga. We had a big family celebration for my Dad's 70th birthday. Even though it's Winter in the Cook Islands, it's still warm enough to go to the beach, and eat tropical fruits.

Beautiful flowers. Hibiscus flowers only last for a day so my Mum picked a new batch every morning for the table.

We gave Dad a tuna harpoon for his birthday, and commissioned a local carver to work on the handle. It turned out so good!

Huge avocados off our tree.

Massive grapefruit!

A teeny banana!

Preparing rukau, made from taro leaves. You have to remove the stemmy middle, which has that fuzzy mouth taste similar to kiwifruit. Otherwise it tastes like spinach.

Mr Meet-Cute lending a hand.

Coconut buns.

Taro cooked in coconut cream, and ika mata, which is fresh raw tuna.

Le Bon Vivant Bakery and Cafe. We had a delicious lunch here.

They make their own version of 'Mayonnaise', which is a classic Raro potato salad, made with tinned beetroot to turn it pink.

And donuts, which are another popular Rarotongan food, though traditionally they're not made with sugar and cream like these ones.

The Mount

Here are some more pics from our trip to New Zealand back in May, visiting Mr Meet-Cute's family in Mount Maunganui. This year has been pretty intense, travel-wise. We just got back from our third overseas trip of the year, this time to Rarotonga. We've been making up for not being able to go anywhere last year. That's it for us for a while, the rest of the year we'll be hunkering down in Melbourne. I have lots more holiday pics to share on here though, and about three rolls of film from Raro yet to be developed.

Merri Fete

I think I've mentioned on here before that I love school fetes, until I get to them and remember that they're teeming with overexcited children! These pics are from a school fete about a month ago which was particularly FULL ON with loads of kids. It was a good one though, I got some succulents and they had yummy food for sale.

Then, after making an escape we grabbed coffees at one of my favourite local cafes.

Friday Music

I've been watching a bit of Rage on early weekend mornings. No more sleeping in until midday with Ray on the scene. This music video stopped him in his path of destruction, and he sat transfixed for nearly half the song. Then it was back to rampaging around, chucking toys everywhere and pulling out all the books and records off their shelves!

Queens Park

While I was at my parents place we took Ray for lots of walks in Queens Park. It was all lovely and Autumny there.

We fed the ducks.

And went to the playground.

Saw some animals …

… and birds!

We went into the hothouse too.

And Ray had a good time on the swings.

Cute Stuff #4

Since my last post I've been to New Zealand and back, and moved house. Busy times! I've also spotted these cute things from around the interwebs.

The Winter Harvest Quilt, from Gorman's homeware range. I thought it was cold in New Zealand, but I got back to a freezing Melbourne. Need this to snuggle up under.

I loved seeing all the new season Winter fashion in New Zealand. Since I'm at home a lot now I've been dressing even more for comfort. This trouser/trackpant hybrid from Huffer pleases me.

Weaving whizzes New Friends are making rugs now. Any one of these would be an excellent addition to our new place.

This Hummingbird cake by Julia Busuttil. I had Hummingbird cake at a book club get together a few years ago, and it was so delicious. This reminded me that I've always wanted to make one myself.

I need these sneakers with puppies on them from Keep shoes. Cat lovers, there's a version for you guys too.

Vudu Cafe in Queenstown has this stunner of a vintage photo on the wall, as seen on studiohomeonline. Ray's bedroom in our new place has a window that's been sealed up so I've been mulling over getting a large landscape printed to put in it. My first idea was a tropical beach scene, but now I'm thinking I could use one of the photos I took last week in Queenstown. Fingers crossed that when I get my film developed the pictures look even half as good as this one.