It comes but once a year

October

Dearest, darling, birthday month, you come but once a year.
This year you are a whirl of unpredictable weather, changeable work circumstances, a frenzy of lines and planning and travel and moving and oh, exhaustion.
I expect. I anticipate. I prognosticate*. But knowing what I have scribbled into my diary? gives me the benefit of foresight.

I enjoyed my fanciful wishlist collage last year** and so? here is the collage du jour, collage 2009:



This beautiful copy of The Bell Jar, Protea charm & Protea ring by Meadowlark, Cupcakes (!), Peonies, the permission for Craig and I to live in the UK for as long as we like, beautiful underwear, a Kodak Duaflex vintage camera, St Paul's Cathedral back in my life, a traditional peony tattoo, a black retro-style scooter, Chloe Sevigny for Open Ceremony Wedges, Meadowlark*** pyramid stud bangles, a Marc by Marc Jacobs bag in a berry berry hue.

Not pictured: A French Bulldog, a Nissan Figaro (!), photography prints to sell (and people to purchase them), the ability to whistle, a trip to Paris, gladiator sandals, and the Oxford English Dictionary.


p.s. this year I have manymany hours of work followed by manymany hours of rehearsal on my birthday. And more work the day after. And rehearsal half the weekend. It makes me tired just thinking about it.


* Sidebar! Because a word is obscure does not mean that it shouldnot be used. If you understand the meaning and proper usage then I think I should be aloowed to use it. It bugs me ever so much when people tilt their heads**** when I make use of my extensive vocabulary.

** Following on from last years list? Sir C gave me a PoGo, only to find that the paper is not stocked in NZ, my zelda fitzgerald heirloom ring, and an ice cream cake (he is a lovely lovely man), mes parents assembled my charm bracelet (all London, all the time), and in the year since I have also acquired (my obsessions rarely wane) a large Moleskine diary, a traditional rose 1/4 sleeve tattoo (or near enough), MAC makeup, and a large fuchsia flower pin.

*** Meadowlark meadowlark meadowlark. I just adore their work.

**** Examples from the last few days: Behoove. Misanthropy. Prognosticate. Ire.

Druzy Agate
I put little stock in the healing powers of gemstones* but the glittering saturated colours of druzy agate make my heart beat just that little bit faster.


Geode Ring $98USD


Ice Queen Ring $98USD


Wild Watermelon Drusy $95USD

and the one that started it all:


The Druzzy Agate necklaces made and sold by the lovely Emily of Cupcakes and Cashmere.

* and I doubt I ever will.

Like artwork for your feet.

Giuseppe Zanotti Half-Open Wedge Sandals - $595 USD

I ... I ... I have no words.

Beef, Mushroom, Bacon, & Olive Pot Pie

Only occasionally do I feature something I've already purchased as something I heart, but this week? I bought a Pie Bird. As in a four and twenty blackbirds were baked in a pie kind of bird.
And this wouldn't exactly be news except that tonight I used it (him? her? no. it) in the making of a pie so amazing it has wiped all thoughts of material goods out of my mind completely. G.O.N.E. Hmm. I think it was octopus jewellery? anyway.



Beef, Mushroom, Bacon, & Olive Pot Pie
(this recipe is most definitely not mine. It was featured in a fundraising recipe book so it didn't originally come from there either.)

2 cloves of garlic, diced (I used 2 inches of pre-crushed garlic from a tube)
1 onion (I used 2)
125g bacon, diced
1 cup of mushrooms, diced
1kg beef, diced (3cm cubes)
1-2 heaped tablespoons wholegrain mustard (I used 1.5)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 cup red wine (I used Cabernet Sauvignon)
440g tin crushed tomatoes (I used 400g cause that's what came in the tin)
1 handful black olives (I used 2 handfuls! I love olives)
1-2 sheets puff pastry

Preheat oven to 200°C

In one pan, sautée the onions and garlic in two tablespoons of olive oil until softened but not browned. Add the mushrooms and bacon and stir.

In another pan cook the beef cubes until sealed. This might need to be done in batches, adding the beef to the onions, mushrooms, bacon, and garlic mixture as you go.

In the pan you used to seal the meat put in the tomato paste and mustard, deglazing with the red wine. Stir well to get all the scrapings off the bottom of the pan.

Combine the ingredients from both pans, add the crushed tomatoes, and bring to a simmer and cook until the beef is tender. The recipe I used called for 1-1.5 hours but I didn't realise that until I had started cooking and it was already getting late so I made do with 30 minutes and the beef wasn't tough at all. But I guess it depends on the quality of the beef and uh ... I don't know anything about beef. If it looks like it's getting a bit dry, add some water, or more red wine! Stir in the olives.

Place a pie bird in your pie dish (hee!) and surround it with the delicious delicious pie filling. Top with a sheet of puff pastry (apparently, if you are sans pie bird (a sad life) then a hole cut in the pastry will work just as well. But it will be much less amusing) and make leaves with any leftover pastry. Brush the pastry with an egg wash (or a milk wash) (or forget this part because it seems like too much hassle) (oops) and bake for 30 minutes.

Serve and enjoy!

Perfect for the cold cold threatening storms winter evening Wellington served up tonight. It's moorish and amazing.

Letter to the Internet

Dear Internet,
Do we think that Craig will support me spending £1,837.49 on a completely amazing Monkey dress?


Christopher Kane - Cotton Monkey Dress

No. I don't think so either.
But still, I covet that dress something horrid.

xoxo Sarah-Rose

Rouge à Lèvres

Truth be told?
Craig is jetting off to Auckland tonight to drive around Rotorua with his father, brother, another shanghai-ed semi-mechanic, and all the mud and rain in Christendom and that means that I have had a little grey cloud over my head all day today.

I did, however, love my outfit today:

Parisian? by ohsarahrose on Polyvore.com

I very rarely wear strong lipstick (because of my absurdly small mouth) but today I wore Shanghai Red by Chanel and loveloveloved every second of it.
Perhaps it was the compliments?
Perhaps it was the Rose scent?
Perhaps red lipstick has magical powers?

p.s. also? when I think about what I heart today? all I can think of is the research I've been doing for my next tattoo!
p.p.s. I booked the appointment today. 28th August. I'm so so so excited.

American Apparel

I know, I know, I'm seventy million years behind in obsessing about American Apparel.
Truth be told, I've been wearing AA for a couple of years now, visiting stores in London and San Francisco, loveloveloving their deep-v-tees and classic hooded sweatshirts.

At the moment, however, these items specifically make my shrivelled heart beat a little faster:


Nylon Tricot Blend Figure Skater Dress
$48 USD


California Fleece Cape
$65 USD
(the photo of the black was not as cute, but that, of course, would be my choice)


Fontana Vintage Sunglasses
$50 USD


Unisex Moustache Mask
$14 USD

Sigh.

p.s. the overtly sexual ads? don't bother me at all.
p.p.s. the allegations against Dov Charney make me purse my lips, wrinkle my eyebrows and say "hmmm" but allegations are allegations. Simple as that.
p.p.p.s I cannot cannot CANNOT buy another pair of sunglasses. If the weather is fine this weekend I will take photos and show you my collection. I think I have a pair for every day of the week. At least.

It's late and I'm in a horrid horrid mood.

Budget Day!

Oh wait, no, that's right.
I don't heart Budget Day, I hate it.
(I thought that first bit looked a bit funny.)

It was my first time working wherever-it-is-that-I-work in the huge sprawling amorphous blob of New Zealand's government (including opposition and periphery.) on Budget Day and it was not fun. It was frantic and tense. I do not heart frantic and tense.

p.s. it was also my first time ever paying any attention to the Budget at all. Talk about one extreme to the other.
p.p.s. I am a political Switzerland. I have no opinion about politics at all. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Ennui ...

(original, taken 12 December 2007)

The dome glows ethereal in the night, London's own rising moon, the beacon of calm promise.
- A.A. Gill

I'm sorry but Craig has been in Auckland since Sunday and I flew up this morning to join him.
So, even though he may be in the garage getting his hands all greasy, right now, the only thing I heart is this man:

Strappy strappy strappy heels!



£74 nine west at asos.com

But really? I love these



$probably too much for me (USD) Chloe Sevigny for Opening Ceremony.

I fucking love these ...

Art plates by Trixie Delicious!





Available from etsy.com, toggle.co.nz, felt.co.nz ... and by contacting her directly.

Oh, how I heart Karen Walker

Karen Walker is maybe not my favourite New Zealand designer but I simply cannot cannot cannot get these sunglasses out of my head:


Duper Strength Sunglasses: $349 Grape & $329 Blue
It's the grape colour that makes my heart patter.



from eyeheartglasses.com



Yes. I do love the lookbook as well.


Sigh. I'm so predictable.

p.s.


NZ$280

I also love this KW necklace.

If I could spend money today ...

Cupcake Ring

Cupcakes and Mace

Oh, my love for acrylic jewellery has not yet waned.
My obsession with cupcakes? along with the rest of the blogging world, also knows no bounds.

I can't stop thinking of Kim's* cupcake ring. I think, oh I'm pretty sure I would need a clear one, oo and a black one. If only there was a clear hot pink one!

Kim is based in New Zealand (woo!) but etsy.com is an international site and she can ship all over the world. She describes her rings as Kawaii and while I generally find that annoying? in relation to her jewellery, the term seems apt. And I'm sure it would help in the etsy keyword search.

Kim is branching out into other jewellery but her acrylic work really stands alone for me.


I can't help but love the heart cutout in the cupcake pendants.
But I prefer my acrylic pendants to be smaller than these (42 x 49 mm)


(it might be hard to see, but the hole in the a is a little cupcake!)


Plus? her blog is also adorable. Bonus!
http://cupcakesandmace.com/

* hee! according to her etsy profile, her birthday is October 9th. Mine is October 8th!

A lazy Hearts because it's cold and rainy today.

From: Discher
To: Kitten

How To Get A Girl To Do Anything And Everything In Bed - Be Absoluutely Mind Blowing

Withered there was but a few minutes' interval 2935, 298302
his recall and failure to support tides down the far centuries
and i could note.

Oh Darling ... Wendy Brandes!!

Wendy Brandes Jewelry

I stumbled upon the delightful Wendy Brandes when googling Anne Boleyn Necklace, because I have (from time to time) become obsessed with the idea of getting a B (for Boleyn or Burke) necklace of my very own.



Every so often, I go to her website, bring up this image, and make puppy-dog eyes at the screen.

Most of the time however, I hang out on her blaaaaag because she is a wickedly funny lady who looks amazing in redredred lipstick and wears whatever the fuck she likes (she also swears alot. I like that about her).

One of my favourite things about her jewellery is that she has a god damn sense of humour. Unscrew the little acorn on a necklace, and you free a little squirrel!


Adorable.

A low profile ring snaps open to reveal a little depression. Is it to store a love note or treasure?


No! The Borgia ring is to store poison.

I'm going to include some of my favourite pieces here but I am not going to post their prices. Some may call them prohibitive (she also produces silver versions at very reasonable-for-high-quality prices) but never forget, her language may be blue but her jewellery is at the luxury end of the market.
She recently wrote on her blog about this very issue and explains that each and every stone is set by hand, meticulously, and that attention to detail does actually cost money (shock horror gasp)



This astounding swan ring (named after Anne of Cleves! I'll come back to that) has 140 individual diamonds that are (in her own inimitable words) are set by a guy who uses a magnifying glass to see what he's doing, while he handles one-millimeter-wide stones with tweezers. Don't get me wrong. If you want to order 500 Cleves Rings, I will happily -- and by necessity -- use inexpensive overseas labor. Just let me know when you're ready to place that order. In the meantime, you'll have to live with spectacular, handmade jewelry that is limited edition, locally made and personally approved by me. So seriously? a piece by Wendy Brandes is a Piece By Wendy Brandes. And a lovely little old man.

The collection that makes my cold black heart race is called Vivat Regina (Long Live the Queen) and is inspired by Royal ladies. Wendy says that Lockets and poison rings are an important part of this collection, because naughty royal ladies are the most interesting. and lord, how I agree. She references everyone from Anne Boleyn, Anne of Cleves, Lucrezia Borgia, Marie Antoinette, Bathsheba, Hatshepsut, to Queen Min (last Empress of Korea!), Edburga (an Anglo-Saxon Queen who accidentally poisoned her husband and insulted a future, royal suitor, silly lady), and Juana (daughter of Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain, she was said to have had her husband’s coffin opened for a few last looks before burial). Amazing.
Beautiful jewellery, and a quirky little history lesson! Jewellery of Little Known Facts? My kind of thing!




(the Juana necklace)


Sigh.