All Things Pink!

So last Friday was my birthday.  

Since I'm approaching a ripe old age, it's a day I'd rather slip by quietly without much fanfare. For this reason plus the fact that we've just arrived home from a rather expensive holiday, and that we have an engagement party and wedding to save for, I asked Liam not to buy any presents.

He begrudgingly agreed; yet on the day these gorgeous flowers were delivered to my office!

He made sure they included my favourite oriental lilies, and asked for a super smelly bunch.  The fragrance of sweet fresh flowers that is currently radiating all over the house is just divine. Add that to the two lovely bunches my best friend brought by for me last week which are sitting on my bedside, and the orange lilies I bought for the lounge, there's a lovely Spring atmosphere in the air at our house!

That evening we went for dinner with my family and grandparents and mum bought me this fantastic vanilla slice cake.  It's the same cake she bought for my 21st birthday, way back when!

That pink icing on top was soooo good! Yum yum yum.

Speaking of pink, as well as trying to organise our engagement party, I'm also hosting a baby shower for my cousin in a few weeks. The party planning started off with a few hurdles and family politics, but now that we've managed to overcome that, it's time for the fun part!

I found some great free customizable websites, and put together these cute little invites. She's expecting a little baby girl, so I thought we'd run with the stereotypical pink theme!

To decorate, I thought I'd try my hand at  some of those tissue paper pom poms that are all the rage at the moment. Initially I thought I'd just take the easy way out and order them from eBay for about $3 - $5 a pop, but then I realised that they had to be delivered flat packed and I would have to fluff them myself, which is the hardest part anyway.

A quick Google search showed how simple these were to make from scratch, and a quick visit to the shops down the road and $1 a pack later I was armed with the tissue paper I needed to get started!

My first attempt turned out surprisingly well! Subsequent attempts were a little messy; I think I must have gotten a little over-confident with my initial success and was not careful enough with the "fluffing". They're very simple to make, but definitely require a bit of care and a delicate touch!

To get an idea of what they might look like, I strung some up on the deck roof. I will need to make many many more, but I think they look quite nice! I am going to try making them in varying sizes and different shades of pink, and also have them hanging inside above the dining table which I will set up with whatever pink treats I can come up with!

Also, the new deck has been completed, along with a snazzy little boardwalk leading towards the garage. It looks absolutely schmick, and we love it! It's given us a lot more usable space in our already much-loved entertaining area, and turned it from great to almost perfect!

I made the most of the Sunday morning sun, and indulged in a few cocktails with a friend.

First up, was an espresso martini, which I forgot to take any photos of :( but we finished up with a few flavored piña coladas which don't quite run with all the pink pictures in this post so far but I added a nice pink cocktail umbrella in there for good measure!



While we were in Kuala Lumpur we found this bar that served the most amazing cocktails ever! I fell in love with their flavoured piña coladas, whilst Liam got stuck into far too many of their special Long Islands. We ended up paying them a visit every single night of our stay in KL, and the bar manager was so friendly! As a parting gift, he offered me the recipe to my beloved piña colada. So far I have tried the original pineapple and lychee flavours, but am yet to source the ingredients which will produce my favourite passion fruit flavour.

I'll guess I'll just have to keep trying out the options until I find the perfect one!
And once I do find it... I'll just have to keep trying some more! ;)