It’s D’s 30th birthday next week, so this week I thought I would share some of the ideas I have for him…

Weekend: D already makes a pretty mean coffee on our coffee machine, but he is always looking for ways to improve – to make the perfect cup of coffee at home. There are plenty of home barista courses out there, but I would like to give D a gift certificate to one that D can take our machine to. No point learning new skills if you can’t do them on your own machine! These two Sydney options caught my eye – Sydney Coffee Centre and the Coffee Institute.

Friday: D has already received a tent as an early birthday present. But he doesn’t have any other camping gear, so I was thinking of getting him a sleeping bag (I like the look of this double one) and a self inflating mattress to keep him warm and comfy when we go camping.

Thursday: D has just gotten into fishing and has been talking about maybe going out on a boat sometime, so this half day fishing tour through Red Balloon sounds perfect!

On the day of the experience you leave the wharf at 7am or 12:30pm (D’s a sleepy head so he would be on the later one!) for a five hour fishing charter on 34’ Seatamer sport-fishing flybridge cruiser. All rods, reels and bait are provided, and the crew will give fishing advice and tuition, if required.

And if D does catch any legal-sized fish they will be cleaned and made ready for him to take home!

Wednesday: D really enjoys cooking – he doesn’t do it all the time, but has a few dishes he has mastered perfectly. He is a fan of Jamie Oliver – his food and the man – so I’m think about giving him Jamie’s new cookbook Jamie’s 30-minute meals (to help him increase his repertoire!) and Jamie’s biography The Jamie Oliver Effect: The Man, The Food, The Revolution

Tuesday: I just discovered the site work is not a job., a concept and design studio dedicated to inspire you to live a creative life and fall in love with your work. I think their work is not a job hoodie sums up perfectly the lifestyle D and I are trying to create with our new site AND he also needs more warm stuff for winter!

Monday: D’s favourite restaurant in Sydney is Vini. Its one of those places that changes its menu daily to make use of seasonal produce and it has never let us down! In our old life we used to go there about every 6 weeks or so, but we haven’t been since we started living more frugally. I think as a birthday treat I will treat him to a visit.

This week is a random selection of things I think are pretty cool. Maybe they can provide you with that last bit of Christmas gift inspiration for that final hard to buy for person.

Saturday: I am in love with this gorgeous book…

Victoria Alexander has created a beautifully interwoven collection of stories, quotes, reflections and photographs. The message of the book is universal: accept who you are and who you can be, whether you live alone, or whether you are one of many. Throughout the book she reminds us to trust in ourselves, try things on for size, take risks and ask for what we want – after all, we might just get it!

Friday: it is summmer, no matter what this crazy weather keeps on suggesting, and one of the great things about summer is ice blocks. When we were kids my mum made her own healthy versions for us – so when I saw Zoku’s Quick Pop Maker it took me straight back to childhood summers….

But how cool is this – instead of putting the ice blocks in the freezer for hours and hours to freeze, you simply leave the Zoku Quick Pop Maker in the freezer, and when you want feel like an ice block you pour the ingredients in and in less than 10 minutes you have an ice block!

It is American but I have just found it at Peter’s of Kensington, however you should also check out the Zoku website because they have some fabulous recipe suggestions on their blog.

Thursday: attention all champagne lovers and friends of champagne lovers (you were trying to think of a gift for them besides the usual bottle of bubbly – weren’t you?!)

GLASS: Clear About Wine has limited copies of the the first ever guide to buying champagne in Australia – The Champagne Guide 2011 by Tyson Stelzer. Personally autographed of course!

The Guide includes:

• independent assessments of almost 200 champagnes
• all the champagne bargains of the year, from just $40
• a detailed Australian retail directory
• a name-and-shame list of faulty champagnes on the shelves this year
• everything you need to know about how to buy, open, serve and store champagne, and
• more than 180 A4 pages packed with information and hundreds of photographs and bottle shots

You can preview the Guide here.

Wednesday: Just a reminder tickets to the St George Open Air Cinema go on sale tomorrow (16 December) – who wouldn’t want to tickets to see a movie at such an iconic Sydney location! check out the program and get in early!

Tuesday: For all you Mad Men fans out there here is the book apparently inspired the series – Jerry Della Femina’s From those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor.

I’ve just given it to my best friend for her birthday, so I’m hoping it is good as it sounds. The book was originally released in 1971 and has been re -released with a Mad Men inspired cover. It is reported that Della Femina was an adviser on season 1 of Mad Men.

I discovered it here and I love this story:

On Sunday, January 28, 1969, the readers of the New York Times Magazine met, most of them for the first time, a young man who was already a legend in certain circles around midtown Manhattan. “Lolling in a chair was the new creative supervisor of Ted Bates & Co. advertising agency, one Jerry Della Femina, 30 years old, a $50,000-a-year marvel out of Brooklyn, hired to bring a bit of sparkle to the Bates image.” The writer, Charles Sopkin, described a brainstorming session for a new client, a “Japanese electronics company” called Panasonic. It was Della Femina’s first day on the job and he was surrounded by account executives, art directors and copywriters awaiting his direction. Finally he cleared his throat. "I’ve got it! How about this for a headline: ‘From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor.’

The wunderkind’s irreverence caused predictable consternation among his new straight-laced colleagues. There was “stupefied silence” and “one account executive dropped his pipe.” And amongst the readers of the Times no doubt other pipes were dropped as well. With the Japanese attack not yet twenty years old and WWII vets heading many households, the wisecrack must have shocked as many as it amused.

But one way or another, the message was delivered: there was a new kid in town. And that’s just how Jerry Della Femina wanted it.

Out of that Times profile sprung a book with the same title of the proposed ad campaign, which, of course, never ran. From Those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor: Front Line Dispatches from the Advertising War was published the following year."

I recommend checking out the rest of this article.

Of course Roger Sterling’s Sterling Gold is also now available.

Monday: at a Darlinghust gift store over the weekend I picked up the Encyclopedia Prehistorica Dinosaurs: The Definitive Pop-Up by Robert Sabuda and Matthew Reinhart. I think this book is AWESOME and I’m not even the dinosaur fan in the family!

There are huge intricately designed pop-ups on each page, and also 3 to 4 separate pop-ups under informative flaps on each page as well.

When I got home and looked it up I discovered Matthew Reinhart has done a whole range of great pop up books – check them out here.