I am officially in holiday mode.

Last night a family gathered together to kick off what will be two weeks of over-eating and celebrating. Mum had cooked up a spicy feast and the evening was filled with endless smiles, laughter and conversation.

Husband and I will be hosting out first dinner party this weekend and we are excited because we love food and we love to cook. So, this last week has been spent deciding on a menu, writing up a very long shopping list on several pieces of paper, a naughty wife spending too much money on fancy (and unnecessary) things like truffle oil, turkish delight and orangle blossom fairy floss, a patient husband putting up with her holiday spending madness and lots and lots of time spent thinking about table decorations and fairy lights.

On the menu:

Appetisers
Cheese and chive tartlets
Spicy herb meatballs
Salt and pepper prawns

Three kinds of salad

Pea, mint and fetta
Warm potatoes with capers
Roasted capsicum with chilli and lime salt

BBQ
Fish
Lamb
Sausages
Chicken
All served up Asian style

Desserts
Chocolate and hazlenut tart
White chocolate and coconut mousse

OK, i am off to buy some last minute purchases...I think husband is pleased that i lost my credit card two days ago.

Before we got married, Husband and i looked forward to spending evenings together where nothing really happens and not much is said, but on such nights as tonight, a simple meal of fish and greens is washed down with cheap wine; the windows are left open to welcome in a sweet breeze; a tired Husband rubs my feet while we watch episodes of Jamie (the early years) and i start dreaming up recipes of lavendar jelly with coconut and white chocolate mousse...

This is my favourite time of year. Peonies are in season! The shops are lit up with twinkle lights. The days are long and the nights are balmy. The weekends are filled with festivities. Lazy days are spent by the beach, drinking in the sunshine. I would prefer to spend as much time away from the hot oven on these glorious summer days, but there is something about the festive season that brings out the Martha Stewart in me. The other night I made chocolate biscotti. The small quiet apartment smelled delicious for hours. Husband came home to the smell of home-baked yumminess, which brought an instant smile to his face. So, there will be a lot more baking this season, for family, for friends, for husband...and may be just for me!

Today I have the house to myself. Husband (which i rarely ever call him, to his face, much to his discontent) has uni all day. So, what's a girl to do, in the small quiet apartment that she has all to herself? A girl that has been married just three months to the week, in an apartment that she rarely ever has all to herself, on a day where chores can be left till tomorrow so she can catch up on lots of sleep. Perhaps, she will continue something she began many moons ago, before she became a married girl, when she had time to sit down and reflect -her blog.

Here I will write only about the things that make me smile - the simple pleasures of life and all the things worth living for. So, as I gaze around the small quiet apartment, an apartment that is feeling more and more like home, I start wondering how long it will be before Husband comes home...

Bedrooms and bathrooms

My fascination with interior decorating began as a little girl. I drove mum insane - constantly rearranging the furniture, hiding her ornamental clutter and tearing out pictures from her magazines. At night, I would sit on mum's lap and pour over old issues of House & Garden. With the beautiful images imprinted in my little head, I would go to sleep and dream up little girl dreams of bedrooms and pretty little bathrooms. It will be a few years before the boy and I can afford a place we can call our own, but that does not stop me from dreaming about beautiful bedrooms...

and gorgeous bathrooms...

and even if it's not our House of Dreams, I can not wait to find a small abode for the boy and I to move into after we are married - a place that we will turn into a comfortable home, where we will live out our first few years of married life and remember with a smile as the dear little place where we began our lives together as husband and wife.

Photo credits: All photos by Polly Eltes

Pumpkins and cabbages

I always thought of the cabbage as the most boring vegetable - the one that took up more space in the fridge than was rightly owed to it.

It never occurred to me how utterly beautiful it could be...

in a vase – its leaves resemble petals washed in purples and faded whites...

and even pumpkins can look so stunning...

laid out on a silver platter...

or stacked on top of each other...

or on its own...

If I had to plan my wedding again, maybe (just maybe) the tables would look like this…

covered in faded European linens and white lace, silver goblets and antique cutlery, embroidered napkins and greenery at each place setting...and...cabbages...yes, BEAUTIFUL cabbages would make for gorgeous centrepieces.

Photo credits: photos via Sweet Paul

Aisle of blooms

A canopy of powder-puff blooms - fragrant, whimsical, heavenly...

Photo credit: My French Life