PINK OR BLUE AT THE LAKEHOUSE

 

The weekend hosted the perfect weather to be sitting by the large bay windows at The Lakehouse with a room bursting with beautiful ladies and an assortment of delicious bite sized treats and hot pots of tea. We were here to celebrate the welcoming of baby number three for a very dear friend of mine. She has two handsome and healthy young boys and we were all there to share the excitement of finding out the gender of baby number three. 

The table was spread with towering tiers of assorted macarons, mini slices of orange and chocolate cake, cute little cups of chocolate and orange mousse, scones, freshly whipped cream and shallow dishes of blackberry jam. Long sandwich plates were delicately topped with sandwiches and mini quiches, exactly the type of food you hope to fill up on at an afternoon tea. The tea menu itself boasted an impressive assortment of deluxe tea leaves which would satisfy even the most pickiest of tea drinkers and perhaps even lure in the most die-hard coffee fans with the availability of the such distinct and diverse flavours.

The real jewel of the crown was the cute and unassuming little cake which sailed high above the tiers of sweets and plates of sandwiches. We were all so eager to see whether the cake was bestowing a pink or blue filling. You can only imagine the excitement and disbelief at seeing a pink sponge cake hiding underneath the white buttercream frosting. It looks like they used a different recipe this time around and I am just so beyond happy for my darling friend and her beautiful family. This pink little sponge cake is the first of lots and lots of all things sweet and pink. By far, this is the best way to welcome in new life is with an abundance of sweet treats, friendship and love.

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Images taken using Canon 5D Markiii//50mm 1.4

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WEEKEND ARRANGEMENTS

My weekend started with a sleep in (thank you Matty), a coffee and a kiss-kiss on each cheek from my family before I bounced out of the door to meet a gorgeous friend (and her micro-babe) for a long lunch and a shop before we embarked on a floral workshop at the Octopuss Garden.

The Octopuss Garden is inside an A-frame building. Need I say more. There was so much inspiration and beauty to choose from once inside. We were welcomed in by the amazing girls who shared some of their home made Sangria with all of us while encouraging us to enjoy the delicious cheese and dip spread. This is a slippery slope, once I start with food, particularly cheese....it can be tricky for me to move away, let alone concentrate on something else.

 

After choosing our stems we moved right into the stripping, snipping and spiral holding our stems into beautiful posies and bouquets. Working with flowers is therapeutic and there is great pleasure in working directly with beauty. Whilst we all wanted to work on more organic and flowing bouquets and posies, there was one who made a gorgeous structured posie with some cute little buds sticking out.

 (The above one is my little posie)

 (The token Kinfolky shot. Nailed it.)

My style is similar to my hair...kind of everywhere and loose, a bit bushy with a stick poking out. I made my bouquet with a good friend in mind - she was having her baby reveal the following day and I was hoping to style a bouquet that would flow with either a blue or pink sponge cake upon the gender reveal at the cutting of the cake. Lately I have really been noticing the colours purple and green in my life (they also happen to be my favourite colours) and they seem to be appearing everywhere. I couldn't resist using flowers with the captivating purple colour and I am just almost obsessed with the velvety looking gums. My large bouquet is pictured below and modelled by the lovely Laura.

My friend's wonderfully abundant bouquet below!! Gorgeous. It was interesting seeing how differently we all styled out bouquets and posies.

The day ended with two smiling mama's, a pram full of shopped items, freshly baked bread (thank you Kath!!!), bunches of fresh flowers and a sleeping baby. Is this not the best way to end the day?

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Images taken using Canon 5D Markiii//50mm 1.4

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THE LEMONADE TREE

 

Just like a lemon, but without the bitterness. The lemonade tree at Nana and Pop's started to sprout fruit after only two seasons from when they were planted. They are welcomed by them, us and the local possums. Their fruit is sweet tasting and mild compared to the citrussy bang that you would get from a lemon.

We had been at the beach all morning and when we got back at Nana and Pop's we wandered down to the back of their place to shake off the sand from our feet and we spied a couple of pastel yellow lemonades ready to be picked. Being too short to pick them, Pat was marching out the directions as I navigated with squinted eyes around the branches and it's thorny stems trying to pinch the ripe ones. A couple of them had already been half snacked on by the possums - a midnight snack perhaps. We sat down by the pond and bit into them so that we could peel the thick skin off and enjoy them as our mid afternoon snack.

This is what summer dreams are made of.

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Images taken using Canon 5D Markiii//50mm 1.4

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NANA & POP'S GARDEN

This is Spring at Nana and Pop's place. A tropical landscape of palm trees, elephant ears, shrubs, climbing vines, succulents and fruit trees. Randomly placed fruit trees. They are a result of birds and bats pooping out their seeds and then germinating into the ground if the conditions are just right. If you are careful enough to look around, you will spy little tomato vines growing up trees and pineapple tops growing out from underneath shrubs.

Home is always at Nana and Pop's place. A quaint little cottage sunken into a green foliage of bushy shrubs and plants which carpet the lower legs of the tall assortment of palm trees and eucalyptus trees who stand tall above their house. Green and pink are the colours that your eyes recognise as you walk closer down the drive. They are the decorative petals of the Azalea, a plant once known as the "thinking of home" bush and also once infamous for it's levels of toxicity. But I think that they are mostly known for their beauty. Well, that's how I know of them. It is very tempting to break off a branch and shake the petals off, just because they look so soft and delicate and somehow even more beautiful when the deep pink petals are scattered acrossed the stone pavement. I let them be and enjoyed their cheerful beauty everytime I walked through the front door.

What flowers do you most admire for their beauty? Camellia's and Marigolds would have to be some of my other favourites.

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Images taken using Canon 5D Markiii//50mm 1.4

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NATURAL THERAPY

 

Stepping out into the salty air, sprinkles of sand made their way inbetween my foot and my sandal. If I were anywhere else, I would find that sensation to be annoying. The long and narrow path from the car park led us into the bush where patches of light and darkness balanced each other out. We spied lots of things; spiders webs, shells, crabs, make shift chairs, pumice stones and somewhere in the distance the glittering movements of the sea peeking through the tall scrubbery. Up a newly constructed boardwalk, the sandy dunes peaked up and down and led us down into a flat silky smooth beach. The water was several shades of blue and the grass dunes were a patchwork of greens and browns, dulling as the sun brightened in the sky. We all had a dip into the ocean, it was cold and fresh and just the type of sensation you crave when you are transitioning into a new phase.

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Images taken using Canon 5D Markiii//50mm 1.4

Please do not use my images without permission.