enjoying summer time...

Blood Orange Cosmopolitan - Cocktail
Ingredients - 45ml vodka |15ml Cointreau |10ml fresh lime juice
2 drops bitters| 30ml cranberry juice| 30ml 'Schweppes Agrum Collection' Blood Orange -
Or - use 2 Juiced Fresh Blood Ornageswith 30mls Tonic water

Method - Add all ingredients into a Boston glass

Add ice, shake and strain into a cocktail glass
Top with Schweppes Agrum Blood Orange

Garnish with Burnt orange zest

Couldn't think of any better ways through these delicious fresh and opalescent blood orange, strawberry, lime colours to celebrate summer [here in 'Oz'] . I have included a couple of little favourite recipes of mine... Here in Australia - we say Cheers!

Cheers to Summer!

Enjoy,

Sarah x

Guava Margaritas

Ingredients - 1 3/4 cups freshly squeezed lime juice, plus wedges for serving

2 3/4 cups [your favourite] tequila |1 1/3 cups Grand Marnier

2 3/4 cups guava puree | Coarse salt, for rims

Directions - Stir together lime juice, tequila, Grand Marnier, and guava puree in a large pitcher;

stir to combine. Refrigerate until chilled.

                                 Just before serving, rub a cut lime around the rim of each glass. Fill a saucer with

salt, and dip each glass, upside down, into the salt. Pour margaritas into glasses, garnish with

 lime wedges, and serve immediately.

images via crush cul de sac, pretty stuff, miss wallflower, diet coke and smoke

Small Spaces For Christmas Decor ~ Part II...

So with only 4 sleeps to go - if you're still stuck for some holiday decorating in Part II of my posting for Small Spaces Decorating - you may just find some great nifty quick ideas as well as getting that table decor you've been pondering over for Christmas Day! Take a look, there might be an idea just for you!

Enjoy,

Go Small with Displays

Ornaments have tons of pop -- utilize their glitter and glow for a small-space display. Glue an ornament to a small, round plastic or glass disk. Remove the hanger and tuck in mini blooms or sprigs of berries. Group the vase ornaments on a tray for a centerpiece.

Accent Your Kitchen Windows

Open, airy windowpanes dance with color, thanks to these colorful snowflakes. Hang similar ones in a pattern or at random; add the final touch with a simple swag of greenery overhead

Use Window Space

Simplicity is key for small-space decorating. White pillar candles, placed on a silver tray, add elegance to a windowsill. Two faux dwarf evergreens, wrapped in burlap, add a bit of color to the wintry scene

Make an Impactful Wall Display

Old photos are great conversation starters, particularly at the holidays, and this display takes up only minimal wall space. Start with baby photographs; cut them in a circle, mount on foam core, and arrange in a tree shape. Little space, big impact.

Great Tip: For a great together-time activity, have family members guess who is who in each photo.

Color

A bare-bones tree is a treat for a small corner, and choosing just one accent color is a good way to cut down on visual distractions. For the base of your tree, wrap a small box with a dish towel and fill the base of the box with stones (disguised with a layer of pearl-white ornaments) to hold in place. Add a few more wrapped boxes in a variety of papers and ribbons

 

images & subtext from BHG, tumblr, Country Living, House Beautiful

Happy 4th July to My American Friends!

Wishing my lovely American friends, especially Jen & Lauren, a very Happy 4th July Independence Day!

Hope you have an awesome summer's day on your national holiday!

Cheers,

image viz pretty stuff tumblr via note to sarah

My Desk...

Here's a moment on my desk this afternoon... I had successfully completed a day of admin and an 18 page application for an exciting [potential] project.

So can you tell that I have been working? Even the coffee cup is a sad story! I am most surprised that one or both of my dogs,  Lucy & Zach, aren't also tucked under the desk - they love to lie at my feet as I work no matter how hot it is! They're definitely great company mascots!

Tomorrow is a celebration for our national holiday - Australia Day and it's going to be a hot one at an expected 36C, and excitingly it also my parents-in-law's 37th Wedding anniversary! Coincidentally it was my parent's 39th Wedding anniversary last Saturday... gee even the family calendar is a little manic! So needless to say I am looking forward to some fresh prawns, salads, a bbq and wine, wine and champagne tomorrow! And maybe a little tidy of this desk and 'mood /message boards' of mine!

Hope you had a productive day too!

Enjoy,



images by Sarah Verity - Verandah Home & Garden Living Solutions via Palatial Living.

Happy Weekend!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend! It's gearing up to be quite warm one here, and this week coming smack bang in the middle of the week we have our national holiday aptly name Australia Day!

Thank you for joining me this week at Palatial Living... See you next week, Have fun & Enjoy -

image via tumblr

Congratulations x

A BIG Congratulations to my lovely sister-in-law, Kylie [my husband, Matthew's sister] and her [now] fiance James, aka Jim, on their wonderful New Year News for their Engagement! Jim proposed whilst away in the UK, when visiting family & friends over the Christmas & New Year holidays.

We're all so very excited & happy for you both, and so glad we can share the news with everyone now too!Here's to all the fabulous frivolity & fun of loads of wedding planning ahead!

Congratulations - We Love You Both so much!



images via pretty stuff, style me pretty, snippet & ink

Early Friday Flowers...

This week I am posting some 'Friday Flowers' - early - on Thursday! Don't you just love these pretty cabbage [style] roses, displayed in interior designer - Sarah Davidson's beautiful Spanish Mission-style apartment featured in Australian Vogue Living this month [March/April 2010 issue].

I'm off for 1 weeks holiday with my darling husband - for our 'baby-moon' pre-baby holiday together... We thought it would be a great time to get away for a little bit whilst [& I can still get on plane!!] to have some time together, to swim, sail, snorkel, read, relax, snooze and all those lovely lazy holiday things, all before our world completely changes when our 1st baby - 'Baby Verity' - arrives in early May!

Hopefully I'll get a chance to check in & post, especially if I find something in my travels on holiday! Take care & Thank You for stopping in at 'Palatial Living' this week. S xoxo

Image from Australian Vogue Living March /April 2010 issue

Happy Easter!

I found these beautiful hand painted porcelain floral eggs from Royal Copenhagen, and had to share them with you. My favourite would have to be the 'delf' blue & white - I am always drawn to this simple colour scheme.

I love the idea of hanging decorative Easter eggs from a simple branch - what lovely way to celebrate 'new life' holiday. Wishing you a very Happy Easter!

Halloween Holiday Decorating: American

Holiday decorating ... I just love the way the Amercian (retail) stores have every possible decorator item to make your 'holiday' look just right. There's nothing like it! Having visiting stores in the States I fell in love their ability to merchandise everything from a tea light candle to a 9ft dining table with matching 4 stack plate setting and cutlery! With the Halloween holiday coming up, and although a mostly American celebration, I have always been drawn to it as my birthday also falls on the date - 31 October. From this I was inspired to share my favourite product images from a store and brand I just love, Pottery Barn. Both a very successful brand & business model, that many have flattered through their imitation.

A little background for you ... Halloween, or Hallowe'en, is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31. Traditional activities include trick-or-treating, Halloween festivals, costume parties, bonfires, visiting "haunted houses", viewing horror films, and participating in traditional autumn activities such as hayrides (which may have "haunted" themes). Halloween originated from the Pagan festival Samhain, celebrated among the Celts of Ireland and Great Britain. Irish and Scottish immigrants carried versions of the tradition to North America in the nineteenth century. Other western countries embraced the holiday in the late twentieth century. Halloween is now celebrated in parts of the western world, most commonly in Ireland, the United States, Canada, Puerto Rico, the United Kingdom and sometimes in Australia and New Zealand. In recent years, the holiday has also been celebrated in various other parts of Western Europe. The term Halloween (and its older rendering Hallowe'en) is shortened from All-hallow-even, as it is the evening of/before "All Hallows' Day",[1] also known as "All Saints' Day". It was a day of religious festivities in various northern European Pagan traditions,[2] until Popes Gregory III and Gregory IV moved the old Christian feast of All Saints' Day from May 13 to November 1. In the ninth century, the Church measured the day as starting at sunset, in accordance with the Florentine calendar. Although All Saints' (or Hallows') Day is now considered to occur one day after Halloween, the two holidays were, at that time, celebrated on the same day. Liturgically, the Church traditionally celebrated that day as the Vigil of All Saints, and, until 1970, a day of fasting as well. Like other vigils, it was celebrated on the previous day if it fell on a Sunday, although secular celebrations of the holiday remained on the 31st. The Vigil was suppressed in 1955, but was later restored in the post-Vatican II calendar. In Ireland, the name of the holiday was All Hallows' Eve (often shortened to Hallow Eve), and though seldom used today, the name is still well-accepted, albeit somewhat esoteric. In Irish, the festival is known as Oíche Shamhna (Night of Samhain), or simply Samhain; in Scottish Gaelic it is Samhainn or Samhain; in Welsh, Calan Gaeaf to the Welsh; "Allantide" to the Cornish and "Hop-tu-Naa" to the Manx. Halloween is also called Pooky Night in parts of Ireland, presumably named after the púca, a mischievous spirit.

Sources: Pottery Barn http://www.potterybarn.com/ , http://www.williams-sonoma.com/ and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween