Sydney Weekend

Last Saturday, I flew to Sydney for the long weekend we had in Queensland. Monday was Labour Day in Queensland, so I wanted to make the most of the weekend. It was also my friend Mel's 30th birthday celebration!

I stayed with my friend C and his girlfriend M. C and I went to high school together and we've been very good friends for more than 8 years now!

I arrived at lunch time and C picked me up from the airport and took me back to his place. The three of us then went out for a late lunch.

Saturday night I got dressed up and headed to Darling Harbour to meet Mel and the girls for dinner. After getting lost and not being able to find the restaurant I finally got myself to the right spot!! We had a lovely dinner at Kazbah. We then walked over to the Shellbourne Hotel, where Mel had reserved a space for us. We drank, danced and had a great time!! Mel, who is a fabulous baker/cake decorator, made her own cake! She did an incredible job and it tasted divine!!

Here is a couple of photos of me from the evening. The dress I am wearing is the dress I made!

It was lovely to be able to celebrate Mel's birthday with her!

On the Sunday I headed out to Manly to meet up with my friend S. We went and watched her local league team play in a local derby! S and her friends have a lot of experience with these afternoons and were very well prepared with bubbles, vino, cheese and crackers!! It made for a lovely afternoon in the sun! After that, we headed back to the Harbord Beach Hotel, the local club house of the team Sarah supports. It's always good fun to catch up with S! We have a lot in common and always enjoy a good laugh!!

That night, C & I went for a walk to Newtown and grabbed some dinner, while catching up on all the school related goss we had to share.

On the Monday I headed into the city and did a little bit of window shopping. I had lunch at Din Tai Fung, which as always, was amazing! I then met up with Mel and our other friend Val at Ivy for after work drinks!! After a few cocktails, Val headed home and Mel and I headed to Bar 333 to watch Monday night football. 

It was such a fabulous weekend! I always love catching up with my friends in Sydney. Hopefully, I will get down there again soon!

xx love Breanna 

Sewing: Anna Sui Dress

So if you've been keeping up to date with my blog, then you would know that I was attempting to learn to sew. I successfully finished a top off of a dress pattern as a size tester! So after finishing that, it was time to start on the dress!!

I found this fabric at Spotlight, it was on the clearance rack for $5p/m! BARGAIN!

I had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do with the fabric, I just knew that I couldn't not buy it!! 

I was skimming through the pattern books at Spotlight and remembered eyeing off an Anna Sui pattern awhile back. Lucky for me they still had it, so I bought the pattern.

Here is a photo as I was cutting the pattern out:

I was able to do the top very easily, thanks to the practice I had with the tester!! 

The skirt however, was much, much, much more difficult! And at that point I had to call mum in for reinforcement ;)

Mum and I managed to finish it before she left for 8 weeks overseas! Which was good, because I took it to Sydney last weekend and wore it to my friend's 30th! 

I'm not 100% happy with the fit. It makes me look a bit frumpy... But if I wear it with heels it is ok.

I don't have a photo of the entire dress, but will post some photos from its first outing when I post about my weekend in Sydney! 

Next on the agenda is a maxi dress out of a really cute black and white print! 

xx love Breanna

Katrina's Hens

Last Saturday afternoon my mum and I attended the bridal shower of the daughter of one of mum and dad's oldest friends.

Katrina's family and my family have been family friends since long before I was even born!

The bridal shower was a high tea at the Marriott Hotel in Brisbane City. This is also the location of the wedding reception in a few weeks time.

From there a few of the "young ones", including me, headed to Jade Buddah to celebrate the Hens portion of the night and had a few cocktails and nibbles.

Here is a photo of me on the way to the High Tea:

When the "young ones" moved on to Jade Buddah we were each given a "title" by way of a badge! Mine was Disco Diva!

I had a lot of fun celebrating Katrina's Hens day/night with her and can't wait for the wedding in a couple of weeks!!

xx love Breanna

Shoes, Glorious Shoes!!

Ok, so I am completely and utterly obsessed with shoes. Particularly high heels. I may be 6' (184cm) tall, but I firmly believe you are never too tall for a fabulous pair of 6" heels!!

Last weekend I was at DFO and Tony Bianco had an awesome sale on! So I bought myself two pairs of beautiful heels!

The first pair are a cute pair of lace up ankle boots. I love them and foresee them being very practical throughout winter!

The second pair are a gorgeous pair of two tone pumps!

Both pairs were marked down to $60 and on top of that Tony Bianco had a further 10% off. So I scored both pairs for a grand total of $108!! Bargain!!

Today I drove my brother to a job interview at West End. While I was waiting for him, I ducked over to Indooroopilly and had a browse. I'd been eying off an amazing pair of strappy Wayne by Wayne Cooper heels for a while, but Chermside and Brookside (my local Myer stores) didn't have my size in the black colour. But I found them today and couldn't resist purchasing them!!

I think I'm in love...!

xx love Breanna

The Lucky One

On Sunday, last week, Donna, Andrea and I went to the movies to see The Lucky One. 

For a role that Zac Efron spent so much time bulking up for, there was a definite lack of shirtlessness in this movie! Other than that it was a cute rom-com!! 

Always a fun afternoon with the girls!

xx love Breanna

Reds v Stormers

Last Friday night my friend Dave organised a trip to Suncorp Stadium to watch the Reds take on the Stormers. Dave and I were joined by our other friends Bee & Greg.

For someone who loves her sport so much, it surprised quite a few people that this was my first ever live Super Rugby match.

I decided to paint my nails red in support of the Reds! See I can do girly too...

It was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed hanging out with everyone, but not having the commentators to rely on definitely made me realise I need a better understanding of the rules! Just something to work on!

In the end the Stormers were too good for the Reds. The Reds are having a horror run with injuries this season!

xx love Breanna

Belle's Baby Shower

On Sunday, my darling friend Belle had her baby shower! She and her hubby are expecting twin girls in June. I posted about my baking efforts for the event here!

Here is the result of the effort:

The setup at the shower

The centrepiece cake

 The cupcakes, the vase filled with jelly beans and the centrepiece cake

 The inside of the centrepiece cake

 The yummy mummy-to-be and I

I'm pretty proud of my first attempt at decorating a cake! By the time the christening comes around, I'll be a pro... haha - maybe not ;)

xx love Breanna

My first sewing project - complete!!

On Sunday morning, I put the last remaining stitches into my first ever sewing project!

Here is the result:

Front 

Back

I'm really proud of myself! I did the majority of it and only relied on mum for sorting out the buttons and loops and mum hemmed it for me. Apart from that, I did it all myself!

Next on the agenda is the dress pattern this top was amended from!

xx love Breanna

ps. photos of me wearing the top to come ;)

Saturday Baking!

I spent, literally, all day Saturday baking and decorating. My friend Belle is expecting twins in June, and Sunday was her baby shower! In the last couple of years, I've made cupcakes for her engagement party to her now husband Dave, as well as their wedding cupcakes! After yesterday, we can also add baby shower cakes to the list and I've already been asked to do the christening cake!

Belle had invited 60 people to the baby shower, but when I was discussing with her mum only 40 people had RSVP'd so I decided to make 50 cupcakes and a centrepiece cake as a buffer for any extras who weren't accommodated for in the 50 cupcakes.

I started baking at 845am on Saturday morning and finished decorating the centrepiece cake at 845pm.

Mid-bake photo

It may have taken all day, but the time, money and effort spent was so worth it to see how happy Belle was with the final result.

Photos and a post on the baby shower to come soon!

xx love Breanna

Broncos V Raiders

Mum scored a shop-a-docket that was offering 2-4-1 tickets to the Broncos v Raiders game on Friday night!! So my gorgeous friend D & I decided to go!

We started our night, as per tradition, at Iceworks! One of our favourite bartenders was working so we asked him to make us cosmos! He makes really good cosmos!

Then we headed over to the game!

Pre-game warm-up

This was definitely a game the Broncos should have won, but I wasn't feeling all that confident. You see, I had a little bit of a hoodoo that needed breaking! In the start of this season and all of last season, every time D & I have gone to a Broncos match that I bought the tickets too, they have lost!! Anytime we've had free tickets, or D's bought the tickets, they've won!! Even 2 weeks ago when Tahlia and I went, I bought the tickets and they won, it just seemed to be whenever D & I went!!

During the week it was looking pretty good. The Broncos had been playing well and I was thinking "Yes! My hoodoo will be broken!!" Then Peter Wallace pulled out injured, and I started to panic! OK that might be a slight over-exaggeration, but the confidence levels were diminishing.

Luckily the Broncos played really well! Corey Norman and Ben Hunt were outstanding! They ran away with the match 30-6 in the end, and D & I were very happy they got the win!

Here is D & I at the game!

xx love Breanna