Golden Globes 2014 - Hits and Misses

I absolutely, positively love awards season in Hollywood. I'm a huge fan of film and television. Every year I sit glued to the TV watching both the Golden Globes and the Oscars. I think though that "Who are you wearing?" has taken over from the actual awards most of the time and a bigger deal is made of the red carpet than anything else. 

Best Dressed Goes To...

I've never seen Cate look bad. She nails her look each and every time. She always takes a risk without jumping off a ledge. 

Cate Blanchett in Armani

Hits of the Red Carpet

Lena Dunham in Zac Posen

Lupita Nyongo'o in Ralph Lauren

Michelle Dockery in Oscar De La Renta

Margot Robbie in Gucci

Naomi Watts in Tom Ford

Taylor Swift in Carolina Herrera 

Vintage Queen, Zooey Deschanel in Oscar De La Renta

Jessica Chastain in Givenchy

Played it Too Safe

Kate Beckinsale in Zuhair Murad

Reese Witherspoon in Calvin Klein 

Misses of the Red Carpet

Amber Heard in Atelier Versace
The dress is superb but the hairstyle ages her beyond belief! 

Emma Thompson in Vintage Lanvin
This vintage Lanvin is divine. I absolutely love it and Emma has a rocking body however the hairstyle is so ageing on such a beautiful woman.

Drew Barrymore in Monique Lhuiller
Drew is glowing, her hair and makeup is superb but I"m not sure what's going on with this dress. It's the capped sleeves I don't like very much. Had it been strapless I think it would have looked a lot better.

Emma Watson in Dior
This is too dressed down for me, not glamourous enough. There are too many things going on with this look with the dress, blue shoes and then the trousers underneath. I kind of feel like this is a bit to try hard.

Heidi Klum in Marchesa
The fabric is atrocious and the necklace is very 1990s!

Jennifer Lawrence in Dior
I love Jennifer Lawrence, I love everything about her. She's the reason I chopped off all my hair recently. I'm not digging this dress though. It looks like a petticoat and she forgot to put the actual dress on. 

Julia Roberts in Dolce and Gabana
Julia's hair and makeup is gorgeous but I feel like this dress has been done before. It reminds me of the Valentino dress/shirt combo that was last season.

Tina Fey
She's hilarious, I love her but this dress is a shocker. I think though that she does this on purpose every awards season. I think she actually likes getting on the worst dressed list.

Zoe Saldana in Prabal Gurung
I've not heard of this designer before. There is too much going on with this dress. Zoe is a beautiful girl  but this dress does not do her any justice.

What were your hits and misses from the Red Carpet?

Egg & Bacon Cups...Sneaky Devils

Breakfast in the Derrig household is pretty much a blur from Sunday through Friday. With school, work, gym and activities we never make an effort to sit down and enjoy the most important meal of the day. That is until Saturday morning rolls around. Saturday morning for us means sleeping in, no rushing around and a proper cooked breakfast. Saturday is our Sunday in the Middle East.

Some Saturdays I will make pancakes or a big fruit salad with baguette and chocolate croissants but this morning I brought back an old favourite. Something I haven't made since our days living in Melbourne.

Matt's best mate Richie introduced us to the sneaky devil, also known as egg and bacon cups. Richie and his lovely wife Olivia had been down in Melbourne for the weekend visiting us. After a late night Rich woke up and cooked us all Sneaky Devils. They are heaven on toast.

I hope you are all enjoying your Saturday wherever you are in the world. Here in Doha it's cold and rainy and maybe just maybe I can sneak back into bed for a nap.

x

Ingredients
Makes 6 Sneaky Devils
6 Eggs
6 Slices of Bacon
Small handful of Cheese (Optional)
Salt & Pepper

Method
Preheat oven to 180/350F
Spray a muffin or cupcake tin with cooking oil.
Line the holes with a slice of bacon, making sure to press the bacon onto the sides of the muffin hole but not on the bottom.
Crack one egg into each hole.
Sprinkle each cup with a little bit of cheese.
Top with salt and pepper.
Bake for 20 minutes or until your eggs are done to your liking.

Have a Fab Weekend!

Audrey, stripes, chic hair..what's not to love.

Have a wonderful weekend

x

The Black and White Rug...You Know the One

The black and white Stockholm rug from Ikea would have to be the most sought after rug out there right? This rug has featured countless times in design blogs, magazines, TV shows and movies. I'm surprised it doesn't have it's own twitter account!

Ikea opened in Doha March 2013, the excitement around the expat and local community was palpable. Seriously, it was like Kate and William were coming to town. It was all anyone could talk about! At school pickup you'd hear most Mums talking about whether they were going to go when it first opened or wait for the rush to die down.

I of course took the day off work, kept Sadie home from school and we made the trek out to Ikea on it's 2nd day of operation. All my Christmases had come at once. Finally I could get good cheap home wares to decorate the house with. Sadie still talks about the day she got to skip school and go to Ikea. She loves the place, actually she loves the ice creams more so than the flat packs.

One of my first purchases was the Stockholm rug. We had not long moved into our new house and I decided I wanted to change my look. Gone was my traditional, safe decorating style, in it's place was more colour and a much more contemporary feel.

Me and My Stockholm

I originally placed the rug in our living room however with a golden retriever that sheds hair constantly and a rug made from pure wool, the two did not mix. So I have now moved the rug up to my office. My office is a shambles. I'm still trying to work out how I will decorate it but I know this, the Stockholm rug will anchor this room. I love it!

Here are some fab ways the Stockholm has been used in homes.

Fun and Funky Children's Play Room

Living Room Glamour

Pink, Black and Lots of Texture

Sophisticated Bedroom

Do you have the Stockholm rug in your home? Would love to see how you've used it.

x

Strawberry and Feta Salad

All of a sudden it's turned arctic in Doha, I'm sure this is the coldest winter we've had in our 5 1/2 years of living in the Middle East. Last night when I came home from my Tabata class, what I really wanted was to tuck into a very warm and hearty stew but I had already planned steak and salad.

This is the 2nd time I've made this salad and it is quick, easy, full of flavour and perfect for Summer...not so much when it's 12 degrees outside!

You can make your own vinaigrette which I've posted below, but honestly a good splashing of Balsamic Vinegar does the trick as well.

I had a bit of a fail last night when I thought I had almonds in the pantry...I did not. So then I toasted some pine nuts only to discover they were well and truly past their used by date! So my salad pictured above is sans nuts but it tastes a thousands times better with the almonds.

Ingredients
7 - 10 cups of Baby Spinach or Rocket/Arugula
250g Strawberries, chopped
1/2 cup - 3/4 cup Feta Cheese, chopped/crumbled
1/4 Slivered Almonds or Toasted Pine Nuts
Balsamic Vinegar or Homemade Dressing

Balsamic Vinaigrette
1/4 cup of good olive oil
1 1/2 - 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar (I can't find this in Doha so I omit it)
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1-2 gloves of garlic, minced
1/4 tsp honey
1/4 tsp sugar
Salt and Pepper to taste

Method
1. Wash and dry spinach/rocket/arugula and place in a large bowl
2. Toss through strawberries and almonds/pine nuts
3. Pour over your dressing, be careful not to drench the salad
4. Gently incorporate feta

She's Back...Again!

So it's been a little over 2 years since I last blogged. A lot has happened. I'm still in Doha, I'm still the mother of a gorgeous little girl and I still love cooking, fashion and home interior.

I started a uni degree, then I quit, then I took it up again and then I quit...see a pattern here?

I'm glad I started my degree, I surprised myself that I actually got some great marks but I was even more surprised to find that I didn't have a passion for something that I always thought I wanted to do.

I've been thinking more and more about my blog and so this morning after school drop off I thought why the hell not! I don't know if anyone will read it, I hope you do.

I still want to post about fashion, food and home design but I also thought I'd add in a few anecdotes about my life as an expat.

2013 had it's ups and downs. We travelled a lot and I love seeing Sadie's face light up when she discovers new cities and cultures. My husband lost his job just as we were heading to France for the Summer but then he was given a fab opportunity here in Doha and we're nice and settled again.

Sadly I had my third miscarriage...on my birthday. It was so heartbreaking but out of those dark skies I saw blue skies again. I've realised that I'm actually quite content and happy being our little family of three. I couldn't ask for a better daughter. I always thought I'd have a big family, 2 boys and 1 girl in that order, to be exact.

Life doesn't always go according to plan, life is spontaneous whether you like it or not. So as my Mum always says "just pull yourself together and get on with it" and that is exactly what I plan to do.

Below is a little review of 2013. I'm calling 2013 the year of the hair transformation. I started off with long dark hair and I ended up with very short blonde hair! Change is as good as a holiday right?

Will You Marry Me?

I love New York City, I love romance and I love Tiffany & Co and I love this short film by Ed Burns...