Anthropology Inspired backyard games night

One of the things M and I had wanted to do last Summer was to host an outdoor dinner and board games night in the backyard, under some twinkly lights, with some of our couple friends. We had set fairy lights up in the backyard for Paige's 21st and left them up for a week hoping to do so, but that week it just rained and it was cold (in Dec!?) so we ended up just taking lights down and never got around to hosting that gathering -sad face! So we were pretty excited to host one this summer, and it was so much fun it might just have to become a yearly event! The night before our little party was also my dear friend Katty's birthday, so although it wasn't exactly labelled a 'birthday party', we did surprise her with a birthday cake, a little present on her chair, some happy birthday wishes and I made some fun feather crowns for all the girls to wear too, which were just the right amount of crazy :)

I wanted the gathering to be a little fancy (you should know by now that I never do things by halves!) but also super easy and non stressful to put together. And somehow I think we managed to accomplish both!?!? For the decorations I just used everything I already had on hand in gold and burnt orange/amber colours. The plates, cutlery and silverware were from Paige's twenty first, and the feathers and lace were actually leftover craft supplies from our wedding! The table was made by my dad and the chairs were from our dining room setting and also the chairs we used for our bridal signing table (which I found on the side of the road). The only things I bought were the white napkins (on sale from my work), some gold sequin trim to make our bohemian inspired headdresses and some fresh flowers, which kept cost down too - yay! I was inspired by this party and wanted to go with a bohemian/feather/fancy mismatched china/anthropologie look. The only crafting I did was to attach some of the feathers to the polka dot straws and napkins with a bit of glue and lace.

I tried to keep the food both fancy looking but easy too. Which was easy because I am currently 'looking after' one of mum's thermomixes (she's a consultant). It got a pretty decent workout for this party! We served cheese, bikkies, carrot + celery sticks and a yummy home made cashew and capsicum dip, This cous cous salad and this tomato, bean and feta cheese salad and chicken + halloumi and beef kebabs. I also made two pizza breads and tzatziki in the thermo too. The drink in the dispenser is actually a bottle of Lipton Peach Iced Tea with a few orange slices thrown in (you should try this, its so easy and yum!) and some friends bought along some other drinks too. For dessert I made a red velvet cake (from a packet to keep it easy, and if I'm honest cause I kinda suck at baking (hello bouncy banana cupcakes of 2012!) and some raspberry fruity dream with tea and coffee.

After dinner and dessert things got a little crazy as Bryan had bought along some sparklers and we all started taking silly photos and dancing around the yard to the music, sparklers in hand. It was one of those really great moments that you don't plan but they just happen and they are so fun! The boys captured some fun shots on our camera. We made some pretty pictures, although I'll spare you the ones the boys had way too much fun making (think toilet humour and fart bubbles) oh dear! Because well this is my blog after all and it's for pretty things only ;) After we calmed down (a bit) the board games came out and I am a little bashful to say that my competitive side may have come out in a big way (oh no!) It was so much fun to end the night with silly games, lots of laughs and just general sillyness. And I'm pretty sure it's safe to say all had a good time as we were still sitting out in the yard playing Articulate till 1:30AM!!  I'm so thankful for sweet friends who we are lucky enough to spend lovely times like this with. What a beautiful blessing friendship is!

^'Jesus' 

^Someone just really enjoyed writing his name! ;)

Christmas twenty thirteen

We truly hope your Christmas was a merry and bright one! Before we move too quickly into the New Year, I really want to recap our Christmas as it was a really sweet one this year. We woke up at home under our twinkling Christmas Tree after our annual 'A's yearly Christmas Tree Camp Out' (something we have done every year since we got married). After our own Christmas present opening (did I mention I got the most amazing gumball knitted ottoman and a croquet set!!) and present opening with M's family we headed down to my Uncle's house in Sydney to spend the majority of the day with my mums family. It was super fun cause my cousin was out from Dubai with her kids (6, 2 and 3 months) and her sisters little one (6 months) celebrated his first Christmas too. And nothing makes Christmas more fun than excited kids and their massive piles of presents!!!

My cousin Rachel is a bit of a foodie and picked our menu for the day - complete with an email of what you were making and a link to the recipe, which was so perfect to not have to think of another thing to do and know that everything would be covered. Even more perfect might have been that I was so busy setting up the Christmas tablescape that my mum and sweet husband made my salad for me! :) My cousin's husband James (our resident family bar tender) started off the festivities with a delicious Pimms cocktails served in mason jars, with red and white paper straws of course! And I was in charge of the decorating after my cousin and Aunt came up with the theme of red and white Nordic Christmas. I seriously love the way my mums side of the family get into the whole decorating aspect of Christmas day! I had to laugh though that the decorators job never stops as we were pulled over on the side of the road on Christmas morning, in the pittering rain, with a pair of secketeers cutting pine branches off one of the pine trees on the council median strip! We had planned a lovely Christmas setup in my Uncle and Aunts new leafy backyard but were rained out and ended up having to set up on their deck - a little squishy, but it worked out all the same. Here's a snapshot of our Christmas 2013 .... Warning - this is a picture heavy post!!!

^^My Aunt reached new levels of perfection with this Pavlova Christmas tree dessert!!!!

Oh Christmas I love you! I think you should come every year!!!

still here

Hi there! I'm still here, I promise. Things have just been a little bit quiet at the Ayling household lately, so I don't really have much to blog about. In fact I worked all last week AND weekend - exciting life huh! But I have been feeling such an urge to nest around here lately, starting with our living room which is the most decorated room in our house so far and my favourite room too. I love sitting in it enjoying the white fresh walls and tall cathedral-like ceilings - it's my happy place for sure :) We have a few lovely pieces which we have loving bought and made but it has taken me so long to work out what colours I want to go with that we haven't got further than that. And then I found this amazing artwork below which has inspired the look and tones I want to go with. So I put together this mood board with some pieces we already have and some wish list pieces too...

from left to right:

1. artwork - I have no idea where this came from as I just found it by a happy accident. But I'd love to credit and then buy it!!!

2. Eames rocker (already have) we got ours from replica furniture.com

3. 'Lappljung Ruta' throw cushion - Ikea (only $12!!!)

4. Jacob Floor lamp (we already have) - Beacon Lighting

5. Linen and gold throw cushion - by me longings on etsy

6. Elizabeth Hurley Zelda Cushion in gold

7. Gumball Ottoman from Kush Living

8. Curio + Curio orange parrot cushion from Crate Expectations

9. White storage basket (sorry I forget where I found this image)

10. Grey Lounge - Hilton Lounge from Freedom in esquire pewter. We won't be getting a new lounge this time around, but we will be covering our existing lounge in a fabric similar to this - yay!

11. I also forget where I found this image but it is inspiration for my feature chair re upholstery project (chair shown in this post)

12. I also forget where I got this image from, but colour inspiration for throw cushions

Now I have some direction and a mood board to keep coming back to, I am excited to really see this room take shape and become a little more styled. I promise to record our progress here too :)

paige's twenty first post #5

Sorry guys, I'm still not done posting about Paige's Twenty First, but I hope you are enjoing these posts as much as I am posting them. This post is dedicated to the drinks and food :)

We did all the drinks and cocktails ourselves (well our very lovely 'city cousins' Aaron and Jesse
made and served all our drinks and cocktails). I seem to remember they made and served all the drinks for our engagement party too! You can find the cocktail recipe here (we have made it for various events and parties and it is yummy!) Here's what we served:

I love how this drink station turned out - and it was all free too! The drink dispensers were borrowed from my friend Kate (who purchased them for her wedding last Nov - photos to come soon!), the dresser is from Paige's bathroom, the place mats are our every day set and I found that cute chalkboard on the side of the road!!

For the food we hired Eden Catering and I can't say enough about Ailish and her lovely husband's service, presentation and general friendliness - they were such a pleasure to work with. Having catering was such a blessing as it left us with more time to you know decorate, took the stress away from my mother-in-law and it made the party feel that much more special. Oh AND they even did the washing up to even though we didn't use their plates! Yeah they are kinda awesome!

all photos by Kelle Walsh: http://www.kelleewalsh.com/