Monday, July 23, 2012

$20 Store Credit GIVEAWAY! [Closed]

Would you like to end the month on a fantastic note by winning a $20 store credit for The Sapphire Bee? I know I sure would! The Sapphire Bee creates quirky handmade jewellery, and "celebrates a love for fashionable living with modern pieces that have a twist of Victorian flare". Its been such a blast teaming up with The Sapphire Bee for the month of July and I'm really excited to be able to share that with one lucky reader! 

To Enter You MUST:
  1. Follow Tastes Like Love + The Sapphire Bee with GFC
  2. Visit The Sapphire Bee's online store and then leave me a comment telling me what you would use your store credit on, (and that you follow both blogs). Be sure to leave your email or a way to contact you incase you're the lucky winner!
Four Extra Entries:
- Leave one comment per extra entry -
  1. Tweet this, "I just entered to win a $20 Store Credit for The Sapphire Bee over at @tasteslikelove_ 's blog http://tasteslikelove.blogspot.com"
  2. Follow The Sapphire Bee on Twitter
  3. Follow The Sapphire Bee on Facebook
  4. Follow Tastes Like Love on Twitter
  5. Follow Tastes Like Love on Bloglovin'
THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED
If you would like to host a giveaway on Tastes Like Love, send me an email!

Start Your Week Off With..

  1. A Gift To Last A Lifetime by Him & Her
  2. Beach Life by Seafoam Dream
  3. Things I Love Thursday by Little Chief Honeybee
  4. Balsamic + Lemon Yogurt Dressing by Amanda K. By The Bay
I thought I would change things up for this week's post and include some of the lovely pictures from the above links. I am so glad for the start of a new week as I was sick last week and worked all week. I'll be working every day this week also, but on Thursday evening Luke & I will be going on a little Sydney adventure to see some bands, eat some good food, drink some coffee and spend some work free time together! 

Be sure to check back later today as I have something excited to share!

Sunday, July 22, 2012

Let's Swap Buttons!

If you would like to swap buttons for the month of August, send me an email. My sponsor button size is 230 x 110.  If you have an Etsy/online store that you would like to feature on Tastes Like Love, I'd love to hear from you! 

Saturday, July 21, 2012

Casual Friday

Yesterday Luke & I both had the day off together, which is something that almost never happens for us. Because we rarely get to spend entire days together, we usually have to cram a lot of things into one day to compensate for the month long gaps of not getting to spend more than a few hours together to just hang out. We've become power walkers of hanging out! And it can be pretty stressful trying to fit everything in, making sure you haven't wasted the day together. This week we decided to do a big clean up and organise a few things around our flat so we can change things up a little. And to go out and sit down together and have coffee. 

Luke had an early morning appointment, so while he was getting his tax done I spent an hour working on an illustration. When Luke got home we went grocery shopping, looked at some thrift stores, bought some records & sandwiches, and did a massive tidy up of our flat. Most days I put on my to-do lists 'tidy computer desk' and it never gets done. So while I wasn't looking Luke pulled everything off my desk so I had to clean it, which was the best thing he could have done! Because now that is super tidy and minimal I feel much more at ease sitting at it. Once we got the majority of the cleaning out of the way we had afternoon coffees, shared a brownie + read house magazines at one of our favourite cafe galleries. Which is conveniently a block away from our flat. We were able to do most of the things we intended to do, and the day was a perfect mixture of practicality and leisure. Have a great weekend!

Friday, July 20, 2012

Currently

Yellow Bow Ring C/O The Sapphire Bee /  Morgan+Finch Tea Cup

Reading: I'm currently reading The Second Wife which is a super easy in-between-loads-of-washing type read. I started a new feature earlier this month, and part of my monthly agenda was to finish this book. I'm just halfway, and seeing how this month is just about over I need to get reading! I've also started reading some new blogs Delightfully Tacky, Seafoam Dream & Him+Her.

Watching: I am currently up to disc three of the first season of Pretty Little Liars. I finally caved and bought the damn thing on Monday after I spent the first part of my day off feeling all girl germy and sick. The first episode was pretty bad, the acting was bad, the lines were bad and story line seemed impossible to translate given the poor quality of the shows beginning. But after the first couple of episodes it started to get really interesting, or I just started to get suck in. Either way, I'm quite enjoying it so far!  

Anticipating: Our trip to Sydney next week! Because Luke & I couldn't do anything special for our anniversary this year because we both were working, we decided to go to Sydney for a couple of days and go see Jack White & Band Of Skulls. I'm so excited to have city hangs, and to actually sit down and enjoy a meal + coffee with my husband. I'm also really excited to see Jack White!

Listening To: Metric's album 'Fantasies'. Its on the iPod at work and gets played a lot. I really liked the single 'Help, I'm Alive', but after listening to rest of the album, I like it the lest. When I was going through my old macbook iTunes, I realised I had this album and hadn't really listened to it before. I love when that happens!

Working On: I'm working on a couple of really exciting things currently. I'm just about to finish up on a custom illustration, I'm doing a commissioned illustration for a blog header and logo for a free lance photographer who takes photos that look like dreams. I can't wait to share them all with you once they're finished!  

Wishing: That the next couple of weeks would hurry up and be over with! There are a couple of really neat things coming up in the next few weeks that I'm really excited about but can't share them just yet!

Monday, July 16, 2012

Start Your Week Off With..

This week has just gone by so quickly! I worked all of last week, and my sister & her husband came for a visit and we went out for dinner on Saturday night. During the week a customer asked me what the correct term for women's underwear was, I went to the movies to see 'Ted', Luke got a new tattoo, we went on a dinner date, I received an awesome parcel from The Sapphire Bee in the mail, bought my new favourite dress from Dotti, and I started to change things up around my house. I'm really excited for Friday this week, Luke & I both have the day off together and we intend on doing some baking and organising in our spare room. Have a great week!

Friday, July 13, 2012

Delight + Dislike

For my second 'Delight + Dislike' I wanted to highlight (in a low light) something that I've been seeing so much of the past week - black tip manicures. I. Don't. Get. It. I'm sure they are on the delightful side to some, but I just can't help but think they look as though you've dipped your nails in tar. At least three ladies have come into my work just this week wearing them, and if I see things in three, I notice them in extremes. And speaking of threes, I bought three absolutely, positively, delightful giant tea cups/tea mugs from Bed Bath N' Table this week. That store is where ideas turn into dreams! I also made another terrific purchase from BBN'T, but thats another post, another time!

Monday, July 9, 2012

Start Your Week Off With..

If there is one thing I am definitely doing this week after reading Lost Cabin's blog, it is baking some Monte Carlo biscuits! They look absolutely delightful, check out her post for the recipe. Have a lovely week!

Would You Like A 15% Discount?




































One / Two / Three / Four / Five / Six












I'm really excited to be teaming up with The Sapphire Bee for the month of July. I am absolutely smitten with this online shop that stocks lots of cameo pendants, cute hair clips and detailed resin jewellery for affordable prices. Head on over to receive an awesome 15% discount off all items, for the next five days! 

Saturday, July 7, 2012

Our Third Anniversary & Love Treats

The day we got married / My present from Luke
Yesterday was mine & Luke's third wedding anniversary. Time certainly does fly! We both had to work unfortunately and spent very little of our together. I started work early yesterday morning, so Luke got up early with me and we had tea and bagels for breakfast. Luke baked the bagels himself and they were amazing! On his days off this week he went to the shops on the sly and bought me an anniversary present - a David Bowie book, a weird animals book, Groove Armada cd and a horse print sheer shirt. And he packaged it up in a super duper cute deer bag from Typo. And because we weren't able to spend the evening together, he came home in his lunch break and made me risotto for dinner. Because we knew months ago that there was going to be a function on at Luke's work on our anniversary, we knew we wouldn't be able to spend the day together. So we agreed to go to Sydney for a weekend as close to our actual anniversary as we could and it just so happens to be when Jack White & Band Of Skulls are touring towards the end of this month! So I'm pretty keen for that! Even though I saw Luke for a total of about two hours yesterday, we still managed to have at least one meal together, hang out and watch the Wimbledon semi-finals with cups of tea & white chocolate brownie. Being married to your best friend really is the best thing!

Friday, July 6, 2012

*New Feature* / Delight & Dislike

















Introducing Tastes Like Love's second new feature, Delight & Dislike, which will run every Friday. Delight & Dislike will showcase things that have caught my eye throughout the week that I find delightful, and the things that fall under the 'dislike' category. This week I've been finding Groove Armada's 'Black Light' album extremely delightful. For the past couple of months I've been hearing it on the cafe iPod at work and this week it particularly grew on me and I went out and snapped it up for myself. To debut this feature I thought I would include a constant dislike of mine - super short denim shorts that reveal a little too much. I particularly dislike this look during the colder months, and especially dislike seeing the younger girls wearing these types of shorts paired up with a pair of Ugg boots!

Wednesday, July 4, 2012

*New Feature* / My Monthly Agenda

WANT  /  NEED  /  MEAL  /  READ

I'm really excited to be sharing my brand spanking new feature, My Monthly Agenda. Each month I will set out to read a new book, purchase something I need around the house, try out a new recipe and cut down on random spending and focus on items of clothing/home wares etc that I actually want.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Upcoming Changes

Over the past couple of days I've been doing some casual blog planning so I can incorporate a couple of different elements into my blog. And to post more regularly. So this week I will be starting two new features - a monthly + weekly feature. I'm really looking forward to the upcoming changes, and sharing a bit more about myself with you all. 

Monday, July 2, 2012

Mother Daughter Weekend

1. Driving to Nelson's Bay 2. Getting dressed on the side of the road 3. Welcome drinks 4. Super Sparkle
Sisters 5. Face masks 6. Me & Ash - my sister! 7. Daughters 8. Through the parking lot 9. Lunch 10. Everyone

This weekend was my family's annual MDWE - Mother Daughter Week End (sans one daughter who is travelling). For the past three years my Mum, two Aunties, Sister, and three Cousins all gather for a weekend together which generally involves renting a house for the weekend, dressing up, wine, cheese plates, dinner, an activity and a weekend theme. This years theme was 'sparkles'. My sister came up with the idea of the four daughters going as a super hero gang, The Super Sparkle Sisters. And this year it was a competition for best dressed, and with our sparkly capes and masks we thought the daughters would of had the title in the bag. Oh how were we wrong! Our Mothers took it to a whole different level with sashes, MDWE sparkle studded underwear, wigs, glitter dresses, jackets - the whole lot! Oh, and all weekend no matter where we went or what we did they stayed in their sparkles! 

Friday afternoon my sister, Ash, & I picked our cousins Kate & Mandy up from the airport and then drove to the spa resort we stayed at. Before we arrived at the resort we pulled up alongside the road and changed into our costumes so we arrived in theme and take the title with the element of surprise. We got lost in the car park maze at the resort for about half an hour, and finally we found the room and surprised the Mothers. We all caught up with some drinks and a cheese plate, and lost track of time talking that our dinner almost burnt in the oven. After dinner we all put on overnight Kora face masks and finished our evening with cups of tea. Early the next morning everyone went for a walk, but I chose to take the rare opportunity of sleeping in on a Saturday, which never happens. We had a late breakfast around 10 am, and went back to our room and everyone got ready for the day. By the time everyone was ready we were making plans to have a long lunch. Because we're all over Australia and don't see each other as often as we'd like, these weekends usually fly by and sometimes we just sit around talking for most of the day.

We went out to Thai for dinner on Saturday, and it was hilarious! We all wore our super hero sparkly capes, and the Mothers went overboard! They all were dripping in jewels, glitter and sparkles and wore sparkly wigs! The four daughters arrived at the restaurant five minutes before the Mothers and when they arrived everybody in the restaurant stopped talking and eating and just stared at them. If you haven't already concluded, my family are not wallflowers, they are loud and sometimes can be quite extreme. Most people in the restaurant cheered and clapped for our Mothers because when they walked in they made hilarious noises and cheered themselves on. It was one of those ridiculous movie moments! I am a little more conservative/serious than my relatives, so at this point I would normally be on the verge of dying from embarrassment, but it was so far beyond embarrassing it was funny. My aunty Lea even showed everyone in the restaurant her MDWE sparkly studded undies! 

I started work at 7am on Sunday, so I had to leave at 4.30am so I was back in time for my shift. Because I left early I missed out on a facial and massage spa treatment, which I was really keen to have. Luke & I are going away towards the end of the month for our anniversary, so I think we'll have massages then instead. I feel really lucky to be a part of an awesome family that loves doing little things like this with each other. It was a lovely weekend, and I can't wait for the next one!

Start Your Week Off With..

I can't believe this past weekend has already been and gone! On Friday afternoon I drove to Nelson's Bay for a Mother Daughter Weekend with my Mum, Sister, Aunties & Cousins. It was such an awesome weekend, I'm really looking forward to looking at all the photos I snapped over the weekend. These are some cute blogs/posts to start your week of with, and I've changed my sponsor buttons, so be sure to visit a couple of these lovely ladies!