It has been a very busy week in shopping land! So many purchases that I need to review over the weekend, although it’s always hard to review a book until I have actually had a fair crack at it. I picked up the Tom Cruise Unauthorised Biography by Andrew Morton today from Kinokuniya ($45), one of the very few outlets in Australia that was able to get it in stock, and I’m really looking forward to sinking my teeth into it over the weekend. After all the press coverage that Cruise and his wacky band of Scientologists have gotten this week, I’m not sure what I’m expecting but I have no doubt it will be amusing. As GWAS rightly points out, one of Australia’s biggest media players is himself a Scientologist and close friend of Cruise, so Channel Nine and all of the ACP stable wont be giving this much, if any, media coverage. But that’s ok, I prefer to make up my own mind about things anyway.

Speaking of books, I ordered Style A to Zoe by Rachel Zoe and The Little Black Book Of Style by Nina Garcia about 2 months ago from Amazon and they have been sitting on my desk just crying out to be loved ever since. Even my 2 weeks off over Christmas didn’t leave me enough time to tackle them, which makes me a very sad panda. Again, best of intentions for this weekend. In reality I have to work over the weekend thanks to a horrible ugly deadline, but I’ll do my best.

In less complicated purchases, someone very special has a birthday coming up (you know her, totally hot brunette with big cans) so we are having a party! And we all know party is just another word for cocktail. I picked up an Urban Thirst Pina Colada Slush cocktail in a bucket today, which is a big plastic bucket that you fill up with the mixture, add rum and freeze. Instant fun! Of course no cocktail is complete without a little umbrella on the side, so I grabbed those too. Best bit…sale! Hooray for Freedom and their post-Christmas clearance.

Price: cocktail – $12.95; umbrellas – $5.95 both on sale!
From: Freedom Furniture
Why you need it: Do you seriously need an excuse to have a cocktail?

While I was hanging around Freedom I also made probably my coolest impulse purchase this week…a collection of 7 photo frames in various sizes to hang on our feature wall behind the dining table. I love that whole ‘casual black and white shots artfully grouped in matching photo frames’, and these are really beautiful glossy black frames with lovely detailing on them. If only I had some decent photos. Thankfully they come with cool pictures in there already so I’m just going to pretend the girls in the photos are my housemate and I and just hang them anyway. Lame, no?

Price: $49.95 (and they also come in cream…I made the girl I sit next to buy them)
From: Freedom Furniture
Why you need them: So you look cool and chic, with purposeful “art” on your walls.

Seriously, any company that writes me an email with the subject line MOOO!!! has to be cool, right.

So on the recommendation of a fellow beauty fiend, I jumped onto moogoo and went a little nuts ordering stuff. Moogoo is a small skin care company based in Queensland that makes beautiful all natural products. Originally developing product for keeping cows udders in great shape for their twice-daily milkings, they have taken all their lovely creamy knowledge and applied it to human skin so that we too can be as soft as udders.

Incidentally, I ordered the Udder Cream and my legs have never been softer. And I smell like a baby too! The udder cream has an ingredient called MSM in it, which is incredibly calming to the skin and perfect for people who have problems with psoriasis, raw, flaky, itchy or dry skin. I really think this is going to save my skin through winter, when you go from cold and windy to dry and air conditiony all day. Eww, I shudder just thinking about it.

I also bought the Double Cream Anti-Ageing Face Cream, which smells like donuts. I love the fact that every single ingredient they use is detailed on the label so you know exactly what you are putting onto your precious face. Time will tell if it reverses the effect of my sun damage, but in the meantime it feels real nice and my skin looks good so I’m happy.

My final purchase was Edible Lip Balm. I have always always been a very dedicated Chapstick girl. Nothing else ever keeps my lips moisturised and soft the way Chapstick does (only strawberry, or raspberry if I’m in America). But gosh and golly the Cow Lick Lip Balm has kept my smackers in tip top condition since I started using it. I swear I am even applying it less than I used to apply my chapstick too.

My parcel was received very promptly (2 business days, meaning they posted it off the second my money went through) and I was most pleased to find they had thrown in an extra sample of their body wash for me too. Yay! Everyone loves presents. All in all a positive experience wrapped up in some cute cow print labels.

Price: Udder Cream and Face Cream – $24.95; Lip Balm -$4.50; Domestic shipping – $6.90
From: www.moogoo.com.au
Why you need it: For pretty skin, great lips and creamy pins. Plus it’s all natural so you know what you’re putting on your body. Moo!

I’m not sure if I can claim this as a purchase because technically I didn’t pay the bill (thank you Father of Boyfriend), but this experience was just too gosh darn good not to write about.

I had the extreme pleasure of enjoying lunch at Berowra Waters Inn and I cannot heap enough praise on this beautiful little hidden treasure. Tucked away in bushland along the Hawkesbury River, it’s only accessible by boat or seaplane (jump on a charter at Rose Bay dahhling). The restaurant has their own private ferry, so take the scenic drive through the bush and park at the wharf. Make sure you clear your schedule because this is a long lunch, and don’t bother trying to ring anyone while you’re there because there is zero mobile reception down in the valley. You will be so relaxed though that it shouldn’t matter.

Chef Dietmar Sawyere has composed a DIY mini-degustation menu, giving you the option of four, five or six courses and presenting you with a sumptuous menu of Modern Australian, including a lot of seafood, which makes you wish you could just sample it all. The courses are beautifully spaced out so you can enjoy the scenery and take time to savour each dish, and the kitchen sends out beautiful treats in-between courses that help to punctuate an already superb culinary offering (do I sound like a wanky food reviewer yet?). For an additional charge, you can also have wine matched to each course that you select, so I would recommend nominating someone else to drive.

As for the location…WOW. You’re sitting just above the river, down in a valley of amazing greenery. The only sounds are birds and cicadas and the occasional propeller of a sea plane slowly whizzing along. The entire outlook of the restaurant is glass, and the interior is clean and polished, white and light timber, so as not to distract from the view.

All in all this is a special occasion destination. Momentous birthday, wedding anniversary, proposing to your girlfriend. Perhaps a wedding reception if you have money to burn. Be sure to ask if you can have a look at the wine cellar. They keep a selection of 300 different labels, about a dozen of each in stock. It’s a collection to make any aficionado drool.

Price: 4 course menu starts at $125, 5 and 6 also an option. More to match wines.
Where: Berowra Waters Inn, on the Hawkesbury River nestled in Berowra Waters valley.
When: Thursday, Friday, Saturday dinner and Friday, Saturday, Sunday lunch.
Why you need to go there: To experience some amazing cuisine in a heavenly location. I promise you will spend your afternoon omitting heavenly sighs.

So I have two pretty major addictions. Actually, three. Shopping. Internet. Magazines. Not necessarily in that order, but all three play a pretty major role in my everyday. Quite often I like to combine two of them at a time…shopping online, shopping for magazines, reading about magazines online. And now I can read a magazine about shopping online! Cleo have put out an extension title (one off? periodical?) called Cleo click! If I’m going to be honest, I’m not a huge Cleo girl. Once upon a time I was an avid reader, but these days it isn’t relevant to me anymore. When I think of a Cleo reader I imagine hot young things in mini dresses with spray on tans, partying all night and carrying their high heels home at 4am, a time when I am usually asleep. But when this landed on my desk* I was most impressed. Of all the cover lines, only one made me cringe (Gisele-ify your life online), but I guess that was because the cover model is a very gorgeous Gisele, so they are excused.

I consider myself a fairly knowledgeable online shopper and I was blown away by the amount of sites this title has covered. It details everything you would ever want to buy online, plus everything you need to know and (in theory) all the sites are legit so you won’t be getting ripped off and having your credit card details and identity stolen. How traumatising.

The most valuable thing in the magazine (in my opinion) is the instructions for ordering online from the States and having it sent to a special US post box which then forwards your parcel on to your home address in Aus. Hello Sephora! I have been looking into this for some time because Sephora don’t post internationally, so this was perfect (and well timed, because I have just run out of some things).

You don’t need to read the ‘how to look like a celebrity’ articles, but I truly recommend this mag as a reference guide to buying online, particularly for the holy trinity of fashion, accessories and beauty. I have a feeling that I am going to have a lot more to write about (and a lot more credit card debt) when I am through with all the things I post-it flagged in here.

Price: $7.95
From: Newsagents
Why you need it: So you can experience the joy of shopping online! Pick something out, fire up your card and sit by your mail-box.

*In the interest of full disclosure, I work for the magazine company that publishes Cleo, but I don’t have anything to do with that title beyond knowing a couple of the staff members.