:: Wedding Inspiration – Invitations ::

As you have all probably realised by now, I am a huge stationery nerd. I am so excited to be at the invitation planning stage of our wedding. I want to make the most perfect invitations, so that when our guests receive them they think, “Oh, that is so them.” A lot of people have said they are looking forward to our invitations because they know how much I love stationery … way to add serious pressure, guys!

I have been scouring the Internet for ideas and inspiration. There are so many lovely invitations out there, it’s hard to figure out what to do! I have also been scouring lovely paper stores and have bought home some delicious papers to make mock invitations with.

The green material is the base colour for my bridesmaids. Their dresses will have an overlay of a much lighter green to tie in with the floaty feel of the wedding.



Does anyone have any suggestions or ideas? All you married ladies out there, what did your invitations look like?
In other news, my younger sister has had her baby! She had a little boy called Hugo and he is the most darling thing I have ever seen. He has a full head of dark brown hair, dark brown eyes and olive skin. He was 7 pounds 12, and 50cm long. He is seriously adorable. My sister's not into photos being put on the Internet, otherwise I'd spam my blog with photos of him!

I hope you all have a fabulous weekend.

:: Snail Mail ::

This Friday I received my parcel for Gracie's 'Because You're Lovely' swap. My partner was none other than Gracie herself. Here is what she gave me:

As you can see, I was spoilt rotten! Gracie's package was full of so much lovely, my heart just about burst! I adore each and every single item she selected for me - I am an absolute stationery nut (just in case that wasn't already obvious!). I have already worn the darling necklace and can't wait to wear the earrings! Gracie, thank you so very much  - not only for organising such a fantastic swap, but for putting so much thought into my package. I love it!

Here is what I gave Gracie in return (pales in comparison, I am sorry to say):

In other snail mail news, here is what I gave some of my other pen pals as a first little gift with my first letter:

And here is what I gave Jess with my first letter (you can see what she gave me here):

I have also just been given my partner for Jess's 'Colours of the Rainbow' swap. My partner likes pink - I can't wait to start shopping for her!

In other un-mail related news (but very male related news, haha) my younger sister has started her minor contractions! I will have a little nephew some time very soon. I expect to be woken up at some ridiculous hour tonight, but if not she will be induced at 7am tomorrow morning as her water has already broken. We are all so excited to meet the little man!

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend!

:: Spring Give Away Winner! ::

Ladies, we have a winner! Krystal, the lovely lady behind the blog Village, won my Spring Napoleon Perdis give away. Her favourite Spring look is using bronzer for blush. If you haven't already, you should definitely check out her blog - it's one of my favourite reads. Krystal, check your inbox, I've sent you an email!

Thanks to all who entered!

:: Signature Scent ::

I have (slowly) been going through my closet in an attempt to do a bit of a spring clean. Without meaning too, I have somehow accrued a rather large collection of perfumes. About a year ago I made a decision to use all my perfumes that were almost finished and as a result I finished about five bottles - and yet, I still have so many!

I have two signature scents - Poeme by Lancome, and Flowerbomb by Viktor Rolf. I have many other perfumes I love (obviously), but every time I wear either Poeme or Flowerbomb I am constantly asked what perfume I am wearing. Poeme is strictly a Winter or night time scent as it is quite strong, while Flowerbomb is lovely and light.

What is your signature scent?

PS. Don't forget to enter my give away if you haven't already!

:: Spring Giveaway! ::

Today was the very first day of Spring and I couldn't be more excited! I am a huge fan of warm weather, longer days, the fun clothes and accessories that are filling the stores, and not to mention the fact that my baby nephew will be born any day now! To celebrate, I thought I would have a little giveaway.

Here are the rules as to how you could win this great Napoleon Perdis lip gloss and 'Boudoir Palette' (which contains three eye shadows and two lip glosses):

♥ The give away will end Wednesday 15th of September
♥ The give away is open internationally

♥ I will be selecting the winner using a random number generator

Mandatory Entry:

♥ Follow my blog on Google Friend Connect and leave me a comment containing your email address and tell me what your favourite Spring make up look is

Optional Entry:
♥ Blog about this give away and leave me a separate comment with the link

This give away not only coincides with the first day of Spring, but also with Spread the Love week over at Oh, My Darling. And so, dear readers, I encourage you to pay it forward and spread the love a little this week. Who knows, you might make someone's day?

Good luck!

:: You've Got Mail ::

I'm not going to lie, this past week has been pretty awful. I've been cooped up inside with bronchitis and have been spending a lot of time in my room with my asthma nebuliser. Oh, isn't that sorry image! But then, on Friday afternoon Mr LG came over like a knight in shining armour carrying in his arms some parcels that had never looked more exciting after a week of seeing only the inside of my bedroom walls!

The first parcel was some of the most vibrant and lovely miniature roses I have ever seen. Yellow, orange, and a wonderful combination of yellow and red in the one rose! Tell me, have you ever seen red and yellow roses like these before? I sure haven't, apparently they're from South Africa!

The next two packages were my first pen pal letters! So exciting! Both of my lovely friends from New Zealand (Jess and Hayley) came to my rescue and helped brighten my week. This first package is from Jess and contains some wonderful things all made in New Zealand - red licorice, butterscotch chocolate, a recycled notebook, a New Zealand pencil, sunflower seeds (which I can't wait to grow in my garden!), stickers and a letter! I can't wait to send a package back to her!

The second letter came from Hayley. We met through the Dear Darlings pen pal swap. It was written on the prettiest of paper (and she has the coolest hand writing!) and the shimmery green envelope was right up my alley! I can't wait to write back to her!

I have some mail outgoings too, but I can't show you them just yet for risk of spoiling it for the lovely recipients!

I hope you are all having a fabulous weekend!

Much love.

:: Food, Glorious Food! ::

Food, glorious food! Don't care what it looks like ...

Okay, so that's not entirely true. You see, whenever I have a get together with family or friends my first instinct is to take photos of the food. Does that make me weird?

This scrummy, yummy food is from about two weeks ago when Mr LG and I went to my brother and sister-in-law's house to watch the last few episodes of the first season of V. They cooked shallow-fried whiting for us (Mr LG and I aren't big on any sort of seafood) and oh my goodness, it was delicious! I was pretty much in a food-induced coma for the rest of the afternoon. I'm not yet fully converted on this whole 'fish love' thing some people seem to have going on, but I have to say I don't exactly hate it either. My next seafood related quest is to conquer my dislike of prawns! I will let you know how I go.

Do you have a food you can't say no too? I'm a huge fan of savoury foods - soft cheeses, olives, semi-dried tomatoes, sporessa ... mmm! I can never say no, even if I'm so full I'm about to burst!