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Tuesday Tune ~ Stacey Kent.

Hello dear friends and welcome to this week's Tuesday Tune post! I hope you have a moment to sit back, relax and listen to a fabulous Jazz Singer.

Have you heard Stacey Kent sing?


Tuesday Tune, Stacey Kent, Natasha in Oz
Source
Stacey Kent is from New Jersey and she is a Grammy nominated jazz singer.

This quote comes from her official site and sums up her life beautifully:

The story of Stacey Kent's rise to international fame reads like a Hollywood script. An American language student visits Europe to study French, Italian and German for a Masters degree in comparative literature. Her life takes an unexpected twist that sees Stacey Kent become one of the world's foremost jazz singers. Stacey, a recent addition to the Blue Note roster of recording artists, now boasts seven best-selling albums including Breakfast on the Morning Tram (2007) and The Boy Next Door (2003) both of which achieved Gold status, a string of awards, including the 2001 British Jazz Award and 2002 BBC Jazz Award for 'Best Vocalist,' the 2004 Backstage Bistro Award for best live performance and the 2006 "Album of the Year" for Jim Tomlinson's album, 'The Lyric' on which she was the featured vocalist.

On 31 March 2009 Kent received the National Order of Arts and Letters, Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, a government decoration, in recognition of her contribution to the arts, from French Culture Minister Christine Albanel.

What an amazing story, don't you think?

Stacey's eighth album is called Raconte-moi (Tell Me).

Stacey Kent, Tuesday Tune,

In this album she has produced a collection of twelve songs sung entirely in French. Kent revisits great classics of the French musical heritage with songs by  Paul Misraki, Georges Moustaki, Henri Salvador and Benjamin Biolay, and also showcases original work by talented young songwriters like Claire Denamur, Camille D'avril and Emilie Satt. The Album was produced and arranged by her husband, the accomplished British saxophonist Jim Tomlinson. 

The result is a an usual and 'chilled-out', loungy cocktail of French pop and contemporary jazz. Amazon

As much I love this album, the song I would like to share with you today is "All I do is Dream of You" which is on her album The Boy Next Door.


The music was written by Nacio Herb Brown, the lyrics by Arthur Freed and it was published in 1934. It was originally written for the 1934 movie, Sadie McKee. The first recording of the song was on April 23, 1934, by Dick Robertson and Angelo Ferdinando's Hotel Great Northern Orchestra. The song has since been recorded many times. Early hit versions included Jan Garber and Henry Busse.

I really hope you enjoy listening to today's Tuesday Tune, Stacey Kent's version of the song!


So tell me, what did you think? Hasn't she got a fabulous voice!

Have you posted any songs on your blog recently? if so we would love it if you could join in with #TuesdayTune and share it with us!

If you would like to link up a song, please just add the url of your particular blog post that you would like us to visit to the Linky tool below. Don't forget that you can link up a song from any of your posts, old or new.
Please feel free to use the button below in your post.




Thank you so much for joining in and please be sure to come back later on in the week to visit the other bloggers who have linked up.

Best wishes for a fabulous week,

Natasha In Oz 

Please join me each weekend for the Say G'day Saturday Linky Party!
You can also visit me at PINTERESTTWITTERGOOGLE+

5 Minutes with... New Blogger, Fiona!

Welcome friends to my third 5 Minutes with.....post!


I am so pleased to introduce my next blogging friend to you today. She is actually one of my very dear friends in REAL LIFE! May I please introduce to you the very talented Fiona!


Fiona is a new blogger and she is one of the most creative people I have ever met. She authors the blog nicobelle design and she designs and sews the sweetest clothing and accessories for little girls.


Have a look at some of the beautiful things that she has made.





She offers the most beautiful and unique range of clothes made from pure cotton designer fabrics imported from the US, Japan and Europe, and of course from right here in Australia.

Fiona is also a big tea drinker and we often have little "tea parties" where we try new and exciting teas from all around the world...with lots of chatting thrown in as well of course! 


So without any further ado, let's spend the next 5 minutes with....Fiona!

What’s your daily beauty routine?
The first thing I do every morning is jump in the shower – splashing water on my face is a great way to wake myself up! I always moisturise in the morning and at night. In summer I use Clinique’s Dramatically Different Moisturising Lotion because it’s so light in the heat. In winter with the drier weather, a creamier lotion is necessary, so anything from Nivea is lovely – they are just so soft, and again, not heavy.

At night, I remove make up with Clinique’s Rinse-off Foaming cleanser before moisturising.



What type of music do you listen to when you are relaxing?

I’m currently listening to a selection of music from Michael Buble, Priscilla Ahn, Lenka, Great Lake Swimmers and Joy Williams. I find their upbeat, happy songs are great to relax or work to. Many of these I have found from playlists on people’s blogs – such a great way to listen to a variety of songs before you download them!


What is your favourite fragrance?
My current favourite is Coco Mademoiselle by Chanel, but I still love Lancome’s Tresor, Estee Lauder’s Beautiful and YSL’s Paris – all floral and so pretty.



What are you reading at the moment?
The Bronze Horseman by Paullina Simons. As we are decorating after a home renovation, I also read many house design and craft books, so have a few good reads on the go at any given time.



Which room in your home brings you the most joy?
I love the new family room as it’s the place we all gravitate to in the evening. We might watch TV, read or do crafty things, but it is the place we all gather to relax.

What is your favourite dinner party meal?
My favourite meal to prepare and eat would be a Greek feast! The starters and main meals almost blend into one with a selection of dips, breads, olives, salads, dolmades, moussaka, grilled chicken, spanikopita, lamb kebabs, garlic and rosemary potatoes………the list goes on! Of course, dessert would have to be something sweet and syrupy like baklava or the custard pastry, galaktoboureko. Mmm, I feel hungry just thinking about it!

My family also loves eating Snickerdoodles!  Until three months ago, we had never heard of them but through the wonders of internet searching, discovered our favourite biscuits of all time.  They’re simple to make, use regular ingredients in your pantry and taste crunchy and delicious.  Try eating just one! 


(Photo credit: Australian Women’s Weekly)

Ingredients:

185g butter, softened
1 ¼ cups caster sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 ¾ cups plain (all purpose) flour
1 teaspoon bicarb (baking) soda
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
2 tablespoons caster sugar, extra
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, extra

Method:
1.       Pre-heat oven to 190°C (375°F).
2.       Cream the butter and sugar together until blended.  Add the eggs, beating well after each addition, and the vanilla extract.
3.       Combine the dry ingredients in another bowl and add in stages to the butter mix.  Combine well.
4.       In a smaller bowl, mix together the extra cinnamon and sugar.
5.       Form the biscuit mix into walnut-sized balls, coat in the sugar mix and place on a baking tray at least 5cm (2inches) apart as they will spread when cooking.  I flatten them slightly as well.
6.       Bake for approximately 10 minutes until golden in colour.  Leave on baking sheets for a minute or so, then remove and cool on a wire rack.

This is a large mix which will yield around 48 biscuits – just halve if you don’t think you will need as much, but once their scent permeates your home, they will disappear quickly!!

Tea or coffee?
At a café, I will always drink a café latte or chai latte, but at home, tea all day long! My current favourite is Stockholm blend from the Tea Centre in Brisbane, with flavours of orange peel, calendula blossoms, vanilla and rose petals, all mixed into a black tea base. Lovely!



Favourite holiday photo?
In the school holidays, we love to visit the beach, even in winter! When friends stay at the beach it’s also lovely to drop in for a visit too – here are Natasha’s daughter Maddy and my daughter Nic enjoying a wonderful day together at Mooloolaba.



Describe your blog in one sentence….
As my blog is just getting off the ground, it’s a bit of a work in progress! With my new shop opening, I’ll be blogging all the time now about new designs, clothing ranges and all the gorgeous fabrics I’ll be creating with! I will also be posting about some of the yummy goodies I bake.  So please stay tuned……..

Thank you Natasha for inviting me to be a guest on your blog!  I have really enjoyed sharing some snippets of my life with all of your bloggy friends.

Thank you so much Fiona for spending 5 with minutes with me. I hope that you get lots of new followers for your blog (hint hint!) and that your new business venture is a huge success!

Please go and visit my sweet friend Fiona at her beautiful blog, nicobelle design or to see more of her beautiful children's clothes please visit her website of the same name (nicobelle design). Be sure to tell her I said "G'day!" and make sure your enter her Give away. It is open world-wide!

Thanks so much for visiting today and thank you also to the wonderful ladies who host such fabulous linky parties every week:
Foodie Friday with Michael Lee
Tickled Pink Friday with Holly
Show and tell Friday with Cindy
and Beverly's Pink Saturday Party

Best wishes and happy weekend,
Natasha In Oz 

Happy Thanksgiving to my American Friends.

Even though we don't celebrate Thanksgiving here in Australia, I would like to wish all of my
American bloggy friends a very 

Happy Thanksgiving!


Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.  It turns what we have into enough, and more.  It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.  It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.  Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.  Melody Beattie

Sending you all my very best wishes always,
Natasha In Oz 

Summer Days Down Under!

Hello my sweet friends! It is so nice to see you-thanks for dropping by and visiting me in my little corner of the world.  I hope that you have been enjoying the week so far. The days are starting to get longer and warmer here in Australia and as a result I am finding it very hard to sit at my desk and blog, especially when I have all of these beautiful things this right outside my front door....



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#TuesdayTune ~ Harry Potter!

Hello dear friends and welcome to this week's Tuesday Tune!

I have had a great weekend and a lovely day today. We spent the day in the CBD Mall to do some Christmas shopping and to see latest Harry Potter film. It was truly gripping and the ending was a real cliffhanger. We can't wait to see part 2!


One of the many things that I love about all of the Harry Potter movies is the music. The soundtrack is always amazing. I especially loved the muisc from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the film based on the novel of the same name by J. K. Rowling. It is the fifth instalment in the Harry Potter film series and it is known for being significantly darker than the other four films.



Nicholas Hooper was the composer for the soundtrack of the film, following on from John Williams, who scored the first three films, and Patrick Doyle, who did the fourth. For the new score, Hooper and the London Chamber Orchestra recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London. Like I mentioned previously, the score, like the film and book, is darker than previous instalments in the series. To emphasise this, a Japanese Taiko drum was used for a deeper sound in the percussion. The soundtrack was released on 10 July 2007, the eve of the film's release. For his work on the film, Hooper was nominated for a World Soundtrack Discovery Award.


There are two pieces that I really enjoy listening to from this soundtrack. The first one is called Flight of the Order of the Phoenix and the second is called Fireworks. Please let me what you think of these two great pieces. I sure do hope that you enjoy them as much as I do! 




I hope you enjoyed this week's #TuesdayTune!


Best wishes for a fabulous week,
Natasha In Oz 

Blue-Bird Watching!

Have I told you that I have become a fan of blue birds? I haven't? Well let me introduce you to the the first blue-bird in my life. This is Chester our pet budgie. Isn't he cute?


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Welcome to our family Chester!

Chester is such a sweet little bird and he loves being part of the family. 

He is very smart too and often helps Big Al with his homework!

But Chester isn't the only blue bird in my life!
I have joined the ranks of other blue-bird watchers out there in blogland....

I am a now a Tweeter on Twitter!

I have been trying to decide between joining Facebook and Twitter for a while now and after hearing quite a few grumblings about Facebook from other bloggers I decided that Tweeting was probably the way to go. I like the idea of constructing short snappy messages and, well, that Blue bird is just so darn cute I couldn't resist!

So if you are a tweeter, chirper or blue-bird watcher too, please tweet me and say hi! 

Follow natashainoz on Twitter

Follow natashainoz on Twitter

Tweet tweet and best wishes,


Giving Thanks for....Free E-zines...and I am in one of them!

Welcome dear friends to Natasha in Oz! I hope that you have had a great start to the week. I sure have and am so exited to tell you that I have found 4 more beautiful online magazines and they are all  free!

The first one, which is very exciting to me personally, is this one, The DIY Life!

The magazine is the product of the fabulous DIY club!


DIY Club

The DIY Club, has been working really hard over the last few months putting together The FREE DIY Life eZine. It is full of so many inspirational ideas, recipes, and crafts. I just love this special Holiday issue and I am so excited as my recipe for Eggnog cookies that I posted here is featured on page 48.



Thank you so much for featuring me and thank you especially to Holly for inviting me to be part of this issue! 



Just click here to launch the full edition in a new window-you are going to LOVE it!

The second free e-zine is called Hviit Jul and it is gorgeous!  It can be found here.

The 3rd free on-line shelter magazine is called Ivy and Piper and it can be found here. It is the creation of Aussie Designers Melanie Parker and Elizabeth Raptis and it is wonderful!



The last one is new to me but I am sure many people have seen it already. It is called Nesting Newbies and I am totally addicted to it! It is another shelter magazine but I love it because it has online cooking segments, and informational blogs aimed at showing all of us "Nesters"  how to cook, entertain, and decorate.






Click here to read the magazine and click here to visit the Nesting newbies site.




I just want to spend some time giving thanks to the wonderful people who put these wonderful free online resources together for us. You are Brilliant!

Best wishes and happy reading,
Natasha In Oz 

#TuesdayTune - Thank you for being a Friend!

I am still celebrating "Birthday Week" at my place so today's Tuesday Tune post is going to be short but hopefully sweet!

Please don't think that because this post is brief that it isn't coming from my heart....



Today's song comes from one of my favourite TV shows and I am sure that many of you know the words to this song off by heart, I sure know I know every single word off by heart! We even had this song playing at our Wedding reception when Mr Attorney and I were saying goodbye to our guests and leaving for our honeymoon. 

....your heart is true you’re a pal and a confidant....


Thank you for Being a Friend was written by Andrew Gold who is an American singer, musician and songwriter. Not only did he write this song which was used for the TV show The Golden Girls, he also has the distinction of being the first human voice to be 'heard' on the surface of Mars because his rendition of the theme from the television series Mad About You, entitled "Final Frontier," was used as the wake-up call for the Mars Pathfinder space probe in 1996.

I hope you enjoy listening to today's Tuesday Tune, which I am dedicating to all of you, my fabulous Bloggy friends! Thank you so much for your sweet birthday messages and for making my Birthday week celebrations the best EVER!

Thank you for Being MY Friends!


Have you ever posted a song on your blog? I would love it if you could link up with us today! I really enjoy listening to all kinds of music and I absolutely love listening to the music that my blogging friends from all over the world share each Tuesday. I am so happy that more and more people are sharing their favourite songs with me each week. If you would like to join in, just copy and paste the URL of the blog post you would like to link up and join in the fun!



Thanks so much for joining in and please be sure to come back later on in the week to visit the other bloggers who have linked up. I will be back to my normal blogging routine this week so you then!

Best wishes,

Natasha In Oz 


Remember, the greatest gift is not found in a store nor under a tree, but in the hearts of true friends. Cindy Lew

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