in my eyes, its a perfect saturday night at the orpin-rashid’s tonight. i have a banana-coconut cake in the oven, a glass of tempranillo in hand, just finished watching a DVD and the house warm and full of food from today’s market shopping and also surprisingly (sort of ) clean.
if i would had read this of myself (or anyone else for that matter) 10 years ago i would have scoffed and thought “how utterly tragic”. 10 years ago a perfect saturday night didn’t start until at least 1am, involved much more than a glass of tempranillo and definitely didn’t involve baking. on occasion i miss the sense of anticipation and possibility that i used to have before a night out, and of course the general spontaneity of my pre-parenthood life, but on the whole i would say i am pretty happy with this domestic state i am now in.
5 other things that have been making me happy:

i am sure this is one of those things everyone in the world knows about this except me. online shopping on whole new level. founder annette’s selection is amazing. she does live just around the corner from portobello market, but still, you need a good eye to seek out such awesome-ness. made even better by her hand-drawn”your deserve it” and “buy now” signs. too good. this week supermarket sarah featured the talents of another design gem donna wilson. but my absoltue fav thus far was her col-ab with uber-fantastic patternity. no wonder just about everything sold on their page.
2. karen walker’s runaway A/W collection

its like ms walker has been in my head and designing exactly what i would like to wear right now (with these two outfits in a particular - even down to those cute yellow boat shoes). now on the hunt for both of these outfits.
3. choo choo’s at the toff
on the nights i do manage to go out – the toff is one of the places i like to go. having worked for owner camillo for a long time, and knowing a few folk who work there, it has a family vibe for me. this week the toff re-launched their restaurant, re-naming it choo-choo’s and changing the cuisine from 70’s inspired gourmet snacks to contemporary thai food designed to share.
technically, i am not sure if choo-choo’s is actually making me happy, as i am yet to try the food. but… i did design the new logo and menu (which i have read in depth, and subsequently my drool caused my already mal-functioning keyboard to become even more broken), and have eaten karen batson’s outstanding thai food many times downstairs at cookie (in fact, we love it so much we had our wedding there!), so deliciousness (and happiness) is almost guaranteed. and rumour has it, its been packed every night since the re-launch! i’d book ahead if your thinking of trying it.
4. my sisters blog

this is purely selfish reasons really – em lives in seoul, and now with her blogging i can easily keep track of what her and her cute puppies elfi (above) and ferdi are up to on the other side of the ocean. but aside from that, she is a great writer and is sure to cover all things good, crafty and otherwise. take a peek!
5. holidays!

after weeks of frustrating location, date and budget discussions (ending in a day of tantrums from myself) we have booked a family holiday and will soon be departing for 2 weeks in tokyo! i have been lucky enough to travel to japan many times before, but its been over 3 years since my last visit. have so many things on my “to do ” list – one of the first is to hire a cute duck boat and paddle around inokashira park enjoying the tokyo summer humidity. i also cant wait to make good use hello sandwich’s tokyo guide (fingers crossed might even get a personal tour from the almost tokyo-resident miss sandwich herself!)
oh! my cake is just about baked. hope you are having a perfect saturday night too xx
Tags: family, holidays!, melbourne, new work, other blogs, things i like

OMG. Ms Walker’s collection is hurting my heart…. as I attempt to pay off the US holiday as quickly as possible! So glad you are going to Japan with family – I will take all tips as we plan on going in September! Once I pay off the US & the KW shopping spree I can feel coming on! x
love this post so much Beci!
oh my, its so hot here in tokyo thankfully a cool breeze has just arrived.
when do you arrive? i hope you get to see the fujiwo ishimoto exhibition at spiral hall in aoyama, i think youd love it.
thanks for the tip melinda!! we arrived late in the 4th of july. so cant wait!!
I made that cake last week – absolutely delicious!
i know! it turned out so well for me! i would even go so far as to say it was my best baking ever!
Yay for perfect Saturday nights in! Yay for mentioning my blog (you are too kind)! Yay for your holiday (though I am still sad our paths will not cross, totally understand and I say – next time)! x
How did you make this template? I got a blog as well and my template looks kinda bad so people don’t stay on my blog very long.