Monday Mantra

28/52

A portrait of my sons, once a week, every week in 2014

Noah - a rare quiet moment at the end of the day. Joined by his friend Dash.

Jasper - enjoying one of our outings during the school holidays.  A train ride to nowhere is lots of fun. 

Finn - savouring an ice chocolate in the winter sun at Circular Quay

Jasper and Noah were as thick as thieves during the school holidays. Noah loved having his older brothers home to play with. Wherever Jasper went, Noah was close behind.

Saturday Shopping Picks

Here are my picks for a Saturday Shopping Session

1. Loving the new range of bedlinen at Arro Home. Designed by Beci Orpin. My linen cupboard is groaning at the seams but surely I could find room for this one!

2. How cute are these kicks for the kids?! Found these ones at Harley and Soo

3. I think this chalkboard tablecloth is such a fantastic idea. Perfect for buffet spreads, where you can label all the food. Or I can see myself writing on names/place cards directly on the table cloth. From Simply Sweet Soirees
4. I picked up the new Hooray magazine yesterday. It's great and lots of party inspiration inside.
5. I love this Candy Dish from Typo. Perfect for keeping sweet treats. So pretty!
Have a wonderful weekend x

An impromptu night out - 1888 hotel + Mr Wong + Palmer & Co

Simon and I had an impromptu night out in the city on Tuesday. These school holidays have been busy so it was nice to have the break with just us two. 
I'd also been offered a free night at the 1888 hotel due to having over 10k Instagram followers so we decided to take advantage of the opportunity and make it a little mini break.
We headed into the city to check into the hotel, have a wander around and decide on where we wanted to go for dinner.

 We checked in to the 1888, it had a very cool New York hotel vibe going on. It is also in a great location in Pyrmont, so close to Darling Harbour and a 5 min cab ride into the city.
We wandered over to Darling Harbour for a walk around the shops and a bite to eat. Also a couple of cocktails on a Tuesday afternoon felt very decadent!

We headed back to the hotel to hang out for a while before dinner. The bliss of having time to do nothing at all.   We decided to go to Mr Wong for dinner but stopped to have a drink in the bar downstairs before heading out.

Excuse the quality of my pics please! I only had my phone with me and the mood lighting everywhere played havoc with my pics ;)
We jumped in a cab and arrived in the lane way leading to Mr Wong. Terrific atmosphere and the place was jam packed.  Who would have thought on a Tuesday night?

There was a bit of a wait for a table so we decided to wait in the bar downstairs, Palmer and Co.

 It was very cool,  we entered via the lift and walked out to a jazz band and a dark, moody Speakeasy.

The bar staff wore bow ties and suspenders and the waitresses were dressed as flappers. I love that attention to detail!

Exposed brick seemed to be the theme of the night!

Simon had a rum and ginger beer, and I had the Deusenberg cocktail a mix of citrus, vodka and popping rocks!

Once our table was ready we went back upstairs to Mr Wong and salivated over the menu. It all looked so delicious. We shared some dumplings to start and shared the Salt & Pepper Calamari, Char Siu pork, Rice and delicious Asian greens. We are still talking about the food!

 

After dinner we walked down to the Rocks to walk off dinner and to grab a cab. We popped into the Guylian cafe to pick up some chocolates to take home to the boys the next day.
We had the best sleep, the blackout curtains at the hotel worked a treat and it was 9am before we knew it.

Breakfast in bed was the finishing touch and we went home feeling rested. It's amazing how less than 24 hours away can make a huge difference.

How have your school holidays been? Did you get the chance for a break?

Thursday's Thoughts