Cake in a jar, oh heavens!

I honestly don't know how I stumbled across this post on 15 Dessert Recipes in a Jar, but, I'm so very thankful I did.

Every recipe is so easy, and wouldn't take long to bake at all; not to mention the ridiculously quirky appeal of them being in a jar - convenient, I say!

My favourite is the Rainbow Cake in a Jar.  Imagine how much of a hit these would be at your next birthday party?

The slideshow has plenty of other options too, I'm not going to lie...I've been thinking about the Peanut Butter Cups Cake for days now.

The website should come with the warning, "DO NOT WATCH THIS SLIDESHOW!"

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*I also love one of the links on the Babble page: 10 Ways to Eat Pizza for Breakfast - genius.

Coveting covers

As soon as this cover came out of Gotye's famed hit, Sombody That I Used To Know,  it got a lot of people (namely me) talking about other fantastic covers that sometimes, are better than the original.  Big call to make, but it happens quite a lot.

At most concerts you go to a band will also throw in a cover or two.  We were at Busby Marou on the weekend and they sang their Like a Version cover of Cindy Lauper - Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, and their opening act sang a great cover of one of my favourite Bruce Springsteen songs - I'm on Fire. Covers usually get such a huge reaction from crowds, and more than often, the songs they cover get requested at the rest of their performances.

Triple J do Like A Version and they are great. My vote in the Hottest 100 usually always has a Like A Version cover in there, and Rolling Stone also has a great list of all time covers they've compiled.

I have heaps that I love, but it would take a lot of effort to compile a list of all the great ones, so I've included a few videos below of my favourites, because they're so different to the originals.

There are also a few covers that are terrible. Kasey Chambers, I'm talking to you and your True Colours cover. Eek that was bad.

1. Hugo - 99 Problems (a cover of Jay-Z)

2. Joaquin Phoenix - Folsom Prison Blues (a cover of Johnny Cash)

3. John Mayer - I'm on Fire (a cover of Bruce Springsteen)

4. 30 Seconds to Mars - Bad Romance (a cover of Lady Gaga)

5. Fiona Apple - Across the Universe (a cover of The Beatles)

6. Ben Harper - Drugs Don't Work (a cover of The Verve)

And, because I love this so much

7. Dan Finnerty & the Dan Band - Candy Shop (a cover of 50 Cent)

What are your favourites?

Crazy for Camilla and Marc

I'm currently OBSESSED with the Camilla and Marc Botanical Print Surrender Trouser from their Autumn Winter 2012 line. Obsessed.

I would actually give up online shopping for 3 months if I could land myself a pair of these bad boys. 

But, because half of the fashion pack are obsessed with these printed pretties that have just hit the hangers, they are actually harder to get a hold of than five unicorns wearing ruby crowns. 

So, instead, I will just pine over these easily accessible floral numbers below, and maybe purchase a pair of these instead.

Are you on the printed-pants-bandwagon?

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Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day for yesterday!

I hope everyone had a beautiful day, celebrating all the ones they love. 

I had a really lovely day, I got to report on some gorgeous stories around town (a baby girl born, and some elderly ladies making handmade cards for their sweethearts...it was beautiful). 

I also ate way too much.  We had a red velvet loveheart cake at work, which I made for Bek's birthday, and then I got home and Jake and I showered each other with a very similar gift.

I had made Jake a stack of red velvet heart shaped cakes, and then melted down his favourite chocolate (Cadbury Black Forest) into the shape of lovehearts as well.

I was just about to give him his gift, when I was blindfolded and then surprised with a whole stack of red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese icing and chocolate letters on the top spelling out, "I love you Meghan", it was very cute, and bad boy made everything himself, so now he has no excuses in the kitchen department, I say!

We ate too many cupcakes last night. Shiz.

It was a lovely day. Homemade gifts are the best*, which brings me to my latest online love.  These fantastc DIY elbow patches care of Honestly WTF - Honestly, they are amazing. I wish I had of seen them a week ago, so I could have sewed some lovehearts onto a sweater and gave it to Jake, haha. I would have made him wear it throughout all of winter.

*Jake knows how much I hate red roses. Bless him.

Metallics, sequins and shimmer

I've always been quite fond of a sequinned cape, metallic eyelid shimmer and even a glomesh bag, and I think the fashion world is definitely following suit - sequin suit in fact.

I like metallic in all forms, whether it be a maroon satchel from Oroton, a silver metallic blouse from Sass & Bide, blue midnight shimmer eye shadow from miss Bobbi Brown, or even a crackled gold pair of pumps from DVF (Which are to-die-for, especially seeing as they were halved to $280... and then halved again to $140. They now sit in my wardrobe ready for a spin).

You can be as subtle as you want with shimmer, and I love it.

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I'm just a sucker for the shimmer. Will any of you be indulging in it this season?

Blackdown Tablelands

Over the weekend Jake and I decided to drive up to Blackdown Tablelands for a swim, a spot of lunch and a look around.

My family used to go to Blackdown Tablelands all the time when I was little; swimming in the rock pools, catching tadpoloes, having picnics, and climbing the waterfalls, I have wonderful memories there.

It's a really beautiful spot, and with all of the rain that's been showering our region over the last few weeks, we knew Rainbow Falls would be beaufitul at the moment.

I didn't realise how unfit I would be though.  Once we parked up, we started the half hour walk.  Yes, it's only about half-an-hour, and in most parts the trek was downhill.  We stopped a lot of the way to take photos and look at the sights, and I may have had a snake scare (I thought I felt something touch the back of my leg, and I did somewhat of a little dance and was then petrified that I would see an actual snake for the remainder of the walk).

Once we got to the falls, we walked down the 232 (or nearish) steps, and relaxed by the water.  It was really lovely, until, we had to hike back up.  I took 4 steps and felt my legs cave in.  Bad girl nearly needed to be piggy-backed. 

It was hilarious, and a really lovely day.  We had a picnic lunch, relaxed and got quite a bit of exercise.

When we got home, I slept for hours. Sheesh!

Paris vs New York: A Tally of Two Cities

It has been penned as a Tally of Two Cities, by Vahram Muratyan himself, the creative genius behind this marvelous online travel journal.

The freelance art director and graphic designer based in the city of love, Paris, has worked for Chanel and the Cannes Film Festival, just to name a few, and has created this visual diary that pays homage to two of the world's most iconic cities.

It's very clever, and the pop art influences of block colours are simple, yet very effective, in comparing these two cities, with wit.

Having been to both Paris and New York, I absolutely understand his comparison, and love, love, love it.

You can browse his blog, buy his book, purchase his prints, and preorder the postcards.

You'd be a crazy crepe to not do any of the above.

Mrs Eliot Books

I stumbled across this cute little Etsy store.

I think these are a quirky way of saying what most people really think when it comes to camera brands.

I'm definitely a Nikon girl. I have three Nikon cameras, and I would never go to the dark side and buy a Canon.  (ha!)

Whenever people ask me my opinion on a camera, I always shriek "NIKON!!", it's not that I don't like Canon, well, it's just that I'm a Nikon girl.

Which one are you?

*If I had enough coin to drop $10,000 clams on a camera, I'd probably say that I'd be a Leica girl. Shhhhh!

Keeping it cool checklist

I got the brand new Country Road catalogue delivered today, and it excited me very much, not just because I love getting mail, but because it was All Things Winter.

Chunky knits, leather panel jackets, faux fur vests and many more fabulous and fashionable pieces to cocoon yourself in for the chilly months ahead.

Yes, I know it's only the first day of February, but, nonetheless it's getting closer and closer to March, which means Autumn, which means plenty of peeps will be starting to stock up on their winter woolies.

There are a few things that I'm loving for winter:

1. Sweaters

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2. Colourful Jeans

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3. Snakeskin print

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4. Knotted scarves

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5. Peplum jackets

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6. Oh, and Chris Evans (but that has nothing to do with Winter).

What is on your checklist for Winter?