Birthday Treats

As I mentioned in my previous post, my birthday was just a couple of days ago, and I had a great day celebrating with my family.

I was lucky enough to receive some lovely gifts this year, and seeing as I absolutely love reading/watching "What I got for my birthday" style posts (I'm nosey!) I thought I may as well write one of my own. 

Of course, the best gift was just getting to spend time with my loved ones... but receiving a few birthday goodies is always nice - and everyone loves to feel a little spoilt on their birthday!

Anyway, the first gift I received was this stunning bunch of flowers from Tom and his Mum. Just looking at this photo makes me smile!

Tom also picked out this gorgeous candle from Tigerlily which is Sea Salt and Caramel scented. I can't even begin to explain how yummy it smells! 

He also knows how much I love tea, and I have a bit of an obsession with collecting teapots, so these were greatly appreciated! They're from Kikki.K if you're interested. 

From my parents, I received this cook book filled with some amazing recipes which I'm looking forward to trying out. I'm not much of a cook, but it's something I'm trying to get better at! 

I was also treated to these lovely new shoes from Wittner, which will probably replace my current favourite work shoes which I've worn to death and are falling apart! I'm sure these will appear in many outfit posts to come! 

My Mum usually also likes to include a couple of magazines as part of my presents, and I've been really enjoying these two! I think I may have found a new favourite magazine - Renegade Collective, and my Mum knows I'm just a tad (aka extremely) obsessed with Emma Watson, hence why she picked this one out!

From some close family friends I was lucky enough to be given the absolutely gorgeous Stila In The Light palette which I've had my eye on for ages (but could never justify buying myself as I already have a few too many eyeshadows), and this lovely nailpolish. I was seriously so excited to receive this so thank you so much!!

Lastly, my favourite part of my birthday is reading my cards, and I was given some lovely ones this year.

I'm feeling so so grateful now :) 

Hopefully you enjoyed this post. I always like these as I find I get so much inspiration for what I can give to others, and though receiving is nice, giving really is the best part!

I hope you're having a fab day!

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx

April in Pictures

Although we're now well into May, I still wanted to share some of my Instagram pics for the month of April. Looking back, it was a really fun month :)

The highlights included going to Michael Buble's concert (he was seriously so amazing!) and the morning spent with my Nonna and Nonno making authentic Italian tomato sauce.

I hadn't had the chance to join them for quite a few years so it was fun being able to help out (as well as a good way to learn all the tips and tricks!)

Some other things I did this month included -  enjoying many lovely walks around the neighbourhood (the weather in April is just so beautiful), trying out some new recipes such as these

"healthy" crepes

(I eliminated the healthiness by smothering them in maple syrup), drinking a lot of tea, and eating far too much chocolate! 

Anyway, I hope you had a good month of April and are looking forward to (what remains of) May! I definitely am :)

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx

March in Pictures

I can't believe how quickly this year has been flying by, and March was no exception! I just wanted to do a little mash up of some of my Instagram photos from this month. I'm not sure anyone is really interested in these posts (seeing as they are usually just filled with food), but I like seeing my photos in a nice little collage... so I'm just going to roll with it. :)

My Aunty actually commented on one of my Instagram pics asking why all my photos are of food. My response was that "eating is one of my hobbies".

Tom and I love nothing more than heading out for a meal (particularly breakfast) on the weekend and trying out new places. Some of the places we've loved this month have been

Fortysevenkirwanstreet

,

The Naked Fig

, and

Koko Black

. We also went for a bit of a drive down to the Swan Valley and discovered the

Cottage Tea Rooms

which I mentioned previously in

this post

. There's just something so fun about discovering a new spot (or revisiting an old favourite) for a delicious breakfast or cozy afternoon tea. 

 Having said that though, I think this next month we're going to have to try and do a little more cooking and a little less eating out, because although it's fun, eating out so much is probably not so good health-wise (and definitely not great for the bank balance!) Ah well... :p

Anyway, I hope you've had a great March! Here's to an amazing April!

Lots of Love

Lauren

xxx

My Malaysia Holiday

A couple of weeks ago, my Mum and I took a short trip to Malaysia, and I just wanted to share a couple of my Instagram photos with you (seeing as I finally learnt how to make these photo collages!)

We had four days in Kuala Lumpur and were fortunate enough to be travelling with two of my mum's friends who used to live there, so we had excellent tour guides! They showed us all of the best shopping spots (very important of course), but my favourite place they took us was the markets where we went every morning for breakfast. It was really great being able to experience the local food and culture (and a great trip down memory lane for my Mum who used to go to a similar market when she was a little girl growing up in Malaysia - before she moved to Australia). 

We had such a nice holiday, and I'd definitely recommend visiting Malaysia if you've never been before! Particularly if you're a big foodie because there is just so much variety. I must have had at least 8 fresh coconuts while I was there. They were just so so good! The shopping is pretty amazing too so that's another big plus!

Photos - Left to Right

Coffee, tea and kaya toast at the markets for breakfast - Colourful desserts - The markets - View from our hotel room - Egg tarts - Shopping in Topshop - Roti canai (one of my favourite foods) - The roti canai shop (where we stopped every morning) - The markets again - Fresh Coconut! - Brightly coloured cakes - Accidental matching outfits! - Biscuits - The lovely lady who made the most delicious popiah - More sweet things - Buying jackfruit at the markets

Anyway, that's it for now. Hope you've had a great day!

Lauren

xxx

Summer in Pictures

I've always loved the beautiful, bright Instagram collages that I've seen on so many of my favourite blogs, and aside from being lovely to look at, I think they also bring a nice little personal touch.

I'll admit that I do have a bit of an Instagram addiction. It's such a great way to record the little things in life that have made me smile, and it's great being able to look back through my photos and remember happy moments. Particularly on a Monday morning when I'm feeling a little bit "blah" - I scroll through my pics and look through at the fun I've had and think "Hey - life is actually pretty great!"

It was only the other day though, that I finally sat down and decided I would figure out how these collages were made. Turns out it was extremely simple - take a look at

this site

if you'd like to know how it's done. I thought it was going to be a long, arduous, time consuming task but it was actually super easy!

So now I've gone a little crazy compiling my instagram pics into collages, I thought I would share a couple here. Looking through them, it's a lovely recap of just a few snippets of the fun things I got up to this summer. 

The above photos were all taken during my week down in Margaret River - mornings spend having a delicious breakfast at the Margaret River Bakery, and walks along the beach were the major highlights :) How cute are their tea pots?!

For Valentines day this year I was very lucky and surprised to receive

 these stunning pink roses and the cutest card and block of chocolate from

Kikki.K

(Tom knows me well).

This amazing, giant strawberry and rose water macaroon is seriously the best dessert I've ever had. It was from 

Bistro Guillame

where I went with a bunch of friends for a special treat. If you're after somewhere really special to go for a meal, I'd definitely recommend it!

So that's it for now :)

Lots of Love

Lauren 

xxx