Amanda Jane Summons

Thursday #1

June 2, 2013

Finally we get to the first Thursday! On this afternoon, I enjoyed the Autumn leaves (which you’ve seen a few in the last posts), ice cream and catching up with family and friends. I met Mum & my godmother Libby in Lygon Street for the best ice cream in all of Melbourne, at Casa del Gelato. After, I met Cat and had lovely chats while eating frozen yoghurt. Then we found Courtney and wandered around, meeting Maree for Dumplings. The evening ended with seeing Driving Miss Daisy with my parents – I saw Mrs Potts & Darth Vader!

Vintage

May 30, 2013

I had the pleasure of living in Lyon for 5 months and this is a view down the beautiful Rhône River that I was lucky enough to look at everyday, riding my bike over Pont de la Guillotière.

Curled Up

May 28, 2013

As its quickly turning into winter, there is nothing lovelier than curling up with my furry friends. The brown one is Elle, the 3 year old Cavoodle and the black and white one is Harry, the 9 year old Chin-a-poo. Basically, they are both half poodles! Harry is the American and Elle the cheeky Aussie. She even let me put my dress on her the other day!

Do you have any furry friends?

Austen Tea Rooms – Take 2

May 26, 2013

I’ve written here before about the Austen Tea Rooms in Essendon and my love for them but it increased twice-fold the second time I visited, for Mother’s Day. This time, we had the proper High Tea with all the tidings. It was a gorgeous affair, decadent scones, savoury delights and way too many sweet things to fill our bellies with. The attention to detail was one of my favourite things about this meal – matching table cloth, teapots, napkins, cups, saucers – everything. I highly recommend it and hopefully my little postcards of the lovely day out convince you.

What is your favourite High Tea tasty delight?

Salt Flakes

May 24, 2013

On my day trip to Bendigo, the day started off with a highlight at Salt Flakes Cafe Restaurant where I had the best chai latte ever. Ever. The froth was so luxuriously thick! The owner/chef was also a very nice guy who had a lovely chat with us about Bendigo and his journey to having his own restaurant in Bendigo. While we didn’t sample the food, I would definitely recommend visiting just because it was such a welcoming place.

Vintage post

May 23, 2013

As mentioned, last week I visited the Monet exhbition and it set me down memory lane, thinking of my trip with Emma to Giverny, to see Monet’s stunning garden. We visited in June 2011 and it was a perfect day. Not a cloud in the sky but lots of shady weeping willows to hide under. I don’t think I have ever taken as many photos of as many different flowers as I did that day!

Thursdays #3

May 19, 2013

So this Thursday it was rainy and miserable outside – hello Winter has arrived! So instead of wandering around the streets of Melbourne, I took shelter in the National Gallery of Victoria, NGV, and visited the Monet exhibition. I have been lucky enough to visit Giverny, the home of Monet, back in June 2011 and I have been to Musée d’Orsay to see several of his masterpieces (though Degas is EASILY my favourite Impressionism painter). However, I absolutely loved getting to see more of Monet’s work in my own hometown. I went with two family friends, Gail and Kate, from Bangkok and I loved visiting the exhibition with them. Afterwards, we spent quite awhile marvelling at the two installation pieces in the foyer of the NGV – one of floating white china bowls and another of a taxidermy reindeer covered in glass baubles. Since I was not allowed to take photos inside the Monet exhibition, most of my photos from the day focus on these two beautiful pieces.

The Thursdays #2

May 11, 2013

I have just started an internship at Melbourne Writers Festival – which is really exciting! I’ll be there a day and half a week and on those half days, Thursdays, I have decided that I have to do something exciting in Melbourne! I’ve had two of these so far so wanted to document the second one here (hopefully will blog about the other shortly!). This was just this last Thursday and Mum came and met me in the city. We started the afternoon off with crepes at Roule Galette, which were extremely tasty as usual. I had a crepe with snails (nom!) and then we had dessert crepes – Mum had ice cream, banana and maple syrup while I had strawberry jam and ice cream -delectable!

The day then progressed to visiting the ACMI Hollywood Costume exhibition, which was outstanding. It was one of the best and most well put together exhibitions I’ve ever seen. Even a few surprises inside! After, we popped into St. Paul’s Cathedral and it was the first time I’ve ever been inside. There was even a little children’s corner – so inspired by Kids were Here I took a snapshots of their work.

After visiting the Church, we got lucky with a table at Movida and we had the best dinner! The photos show all of our delicious courses – the entrees were the best, along with the rabbit and the rice pudding and madarin. The only thing we didn’t love was the octopus, but it was still pretty good.

Highly recommend it!

Loved my afternoon, especially sharing it with Mum!

Roule Galette

Movida

Autumn is Falling

May 6, 2013

Autumn is simply stunning. I love the leaves. I love the colours. I love the avenues of trees on fire. I love the afternoon glow. I love the little cold snaps brimming with sunshine. I just love it.

Hilli Restaurant

April 26, 2013

While we were in Norfolk Island, we had the pleasure of dining at Hilli’s Restaurant. It was absolutely delicious and the wait staff were second to none. It was one of the best restaurant experiences I’ve ever had. There was even a tree in the garden that was lit up with ever changing colours so of course Emma & I had to take a photo with it! We even met Miley, the groodle, of the restaurant, but sadly don’t have a photo of her beauty. Emma and I discovered the awesome Moscato above – look at that gorgeous wine label! It was a great first night in Norfolk Island and I can’t recommend it more. We give it a thumbs up!