A Happy Week

We have four days left of feeling like we’re living in Antarctica. The heater man is booked to come Tuesday morning so unfortunately, we will still be ‘heater-less’ this weekend… However, the ‘end is in sight’ and I’ve had lots of other things that have made me smile this week…



Grace is really enjoying the new ‘toy’ in the lounge room. Every now and then it will catch her eye and she’ll go over and have a little ‘play’. It really is cute to see her excitement as she presses all the different keys.



Yesterday, I encountered a kind lady at Medicare whilst waiting amongst the 101 other people who were waiting there at the same time as us – she was very sweet and swapped tickets with us so I wouldn’t have to wait so long with Grace who was started to get bored and fidgety. If I had a pretty bunch of flowers like the ones above, I would have given them to that lovely lady for her good deed.



This helium balloon costing little over $1 has kept Grace occupied for over a week. She is obsessed with it and has been carrying it everywhere. It makes me smile seeing the little green balloon bobbing around like a homing device attached to her.



And finally making me smile is the fact that I don’t have to cook tonight – we’re going to order a pizza from the gourmet pizza place my brother-in-law has recommended so I am looking forward to having a night out of the kitchen… although if my kitchen looked like the one above at the moment without all the packing boxes and clutter, I wouldn’t mind so much.

What has made you happy this week?

Image sources: #2 #4

Sorting and Organizing

I am usually a reasonably organized person. However, somewhere in the last few weeks between house renovations, sick babies and day to day life, our place has lost its sense of order and tidiness.

Whilst hunting around in a flurry looking for the details of the after-hours GP when Grace was unwell, I realised how important it is that I gradually work to restore the orderliness at our place so I can put my hand on things easily rather than having to sift through boxes of paperwork. This week, my task is to begin sorting through the many boxes of belongings currently sitting in our living room. They are boxes of books and magazines from our study which need to be put back, baby clothes Grace has outgrown which need to be stored away and items still be sorted through of my Dad’s. I’ve decided not to simply hide these boxes away again in our spare room where they can be too easily forgotten about, but rather to keep them in full view where they will motivate me to actually do something about them.

So my task for today after playgroup is to begin sorting… for now, I’ll leave you with these neat and tidy homely images I’ve come across…

Image sources: #1 #2 #3 #4

Slowly Slowly

Here in our little household, work has finally started on building out our wall for our heater (which is currently waiting in its box on our patio). Mum's partner who is doing the job for us came over yesterday and started. I was so happy, I baked him his favourite dessert, apple crumble, to take home with him to enjoy.

All that is needed now are a few coats of sealer and Paul said as long as I'm willing to paint the wall on Wednesday/Thursday, I can book the heater man to come and finally install our long awaited unit anytime after Friday. Paul prefers to wait until next week but I'm desperate to have a nice glowing 'fire' next weekend and so I have volunteered to get out the paint roller. Fingers crossed all goes to plan and I'll be warm and toasty soon!!

What lovely things do you all have planned for this week?

New Carpet

Thank you to everyone for your thoughts on Wednesday – I found your comments very comforting to read throughout the day and those, together with the beautiful bunch of flowers I found on our doorstep from my lovely friend Kylie as well as phonecalls and messages from others, helped me to smile and remember all the happy memories I have of my Dad.

This week has been pretty full-on and chaotic at our place with our new carpets being laid. Over the last few days we’ve had to shift furniture around, sleep on our mattress on the floor in the lounge room and contend with our dining table sitting on its side in the middle of our kitchen. As I said, it’s been chaotic but well worth it as now our beautiful new carpets are in and together with our new white skirtings look lovely and fresh.

While all our furniture is back in place, we still have boxes of all the smaller items to put back and our piano is yet to be moved into place, so for now, here are two before shots and two quick after shots...

One Year Ago

One year ago today I received the news that upturned my happy little world - my dear Dad had passed away. At age 56, he had suffered a sudden heart attack.

One year later, I still miss my Dad's calls to check on us, his genuine interest in what we'd been up to and most of all, his big warm hugs. I know he would have shared with great excitement seeing Grace growing and changing and all the milestones she has reached. Not a day has gone by in this past year when I haven't thought about him.

The photo above from when I was a teenager is one of my favourite photos of us two and sits framed on our study desk where I can see it each day and remember how precious life is and how important it is to let our loved ones know how much they mean to us... I'm glad my Dad knew how much we cared...

Our Weekend

Yesterday was a warm, sunny winter's day here in Perth so we decided to take advantage of the sunshine and went to a nearby park where Grace could ride her bike and feed the ducks. She had a ball and giggled at all the birds flocking towards her.

Tomorrow our new bedroom carpet is being installed followed by the lounge/dining on Wednesday so we've also done a lot of furniture moving this weekend. I'm planning on having a week of sorting and tidying as I don't want to put things back in the bedrooms until I've had a good declutter of our belongings.

What have you all done this weekend?

Thanks...

Thanks to lots of ‘obstacle courses’ set up in our living room, Grace has taken her first steps this week and although she still likes to crawl, is officially ‘walking.’

Thanks to sunny skies yesterday and my lovely mother-in-law letting us use her dryer, I have an empty laundry basket.

Thanks to my wonderful Mum who kept Grace occupied while I did some housework, our bathroom and ensuite are sparkling clean.

Thanks to my friend for organizing a catch-up, Grace and I enjoyed a nice brunch here this morning.

And finally, thanks to some sweet fellow bloggers, I’ve recently had a few blog awards passed on to me.

The lovely Shawna of Poppies and Sunshine has given me the Blog Love Award and I’ve had the Sunshine Award given to me by Simone at Honey and Fizz, Michelle at Sprout Gallery and Christine at Sunshine and Lollypops. These blogs are all great reads so please pay these ladies a visit if you aren’t already familiar with them.


As part of this award, I’m to share 7 random facts about myself…

1. My favourite holiday town is Denmark in WA.
2. I love the smell of anything coconut.
3. One day I’d like to visit Coral Bay to swim with the whale sharks.
4. I wish I could speak French.
5. Episodes of Fawlty Towers never fail to make me laugh.
6. I love Sunday morning walks on the beach in summer.
7. I met my husband when I was 19 at the wedding of mutual friends.


I’d like to pass this award on to Katie at Katie Bird Calling whose blog posts I always enjoy reading and who always leave sweet comments on my blog.

Now I'm off to make myself a nice hot cuppa and enjoy catching up on some blogs while Grace is napping...

Image above from here

French Inspired

Here in our house, one of the things we like to watch on these cold wintery nights is the Tour de France. Paul enjoys watching the cycling while I admire all the beautiful scenery and historic buildings. So today I thought I’d share some French related items and images that have caught my eye…

By the way, those macaroons above are actually soaps!! I thought they were very realistic looking when I first spotted them.

Top photograph available for purchase from here

Images sources: #2 #3 #4 #5 #6

Recent Purchases

Hope everyone has had a lovely weekend. On Saturday, we finally ordered our new heater and then I enjoyed morning tea at a local cafe with my best friend while Paul minded Grace. Yesterday my sister popped over for a cuppa in the morning and then we had a family lunch with Paul's side of the family which is always loads of laughs. Unfortunately Paul and Grace have come down with colds so today we've been laying low around the house.

Today I thought I'd share a few recent bits and pieces I've bought recently...

My most recent purchase is the bowl above by Etsy seller dustanddawn which I ordered on the weekend. I stumbled upon it by chance and was particularly drawn to the yellow and white pattern. I can't wait for it to arrive.



On Friday, I scored this knitted throw when Grace and I were wandering around the shops and it has successfully filled my wish for a wintery throw. The photo doesn't really show how warm and woolly it is but I threw it over me on the couch last night and it was lovely and cosy. I found it in Adairs and when the sales assistant scanned it to find out the price for me, it was only $27 so I decided to snap it up. I love it and it's much cheaper than the Country Road ones I had been eyeing off. You can also see the Inklore cushion I won in a recent giveaway - I have to get the proper sized insert so it isn't nice and plump yet but I'm really happy with it.



I bought the little pear above a few weeks ago from Bed Bath and Table (excuse the poor quality photo but the shiny surface of this made it so difficult to photograph!) The top half of it lifts off to reveal a candle but I simply bought it because I thought it was cute. Not sure where it's going to live yet.



These storage boxes from Officeworks are Grace's new toyboxes. It's great to be able to hide away all the bits and pieces Grace has played with during the day once it's time for bed.



And finally, Asha's new kennel which by chance, matches our charcoal grey window frames perfectly. She did have a lovely warm lambswool in there but she must have dragged it out on the lawn somewhere this morning so her new home looks rather bare in this photo.

What about you? Have you made a recent exciting purchase or scored a bargain? Or is there something on your wishlist you're desperate to buy?

All images are my own except #1 from here

It's Raining It's Pouring

We finally have rain! After weeks of freezing cold temperatures, I am hoping yesterday’s downpour which is meant to continue for the next week or so brings some clouds to keep the temperatures a bit higher around here.

I’d like nothing better than to stay at home today, snuggled up inside reading. However, days with Grace are always so much better when we’ve had a morning outing so we’re going to go for a little wander around the shops to get a thank you gift and a housewarming present.

Paul is out tonight so I’m planning on having some yummy fish and salad for tea (Paul doesn’t eat fish so I try and have it any time he’s not home), watching a bit of TV and catching up on some blogs.

Hope you all have a lovely Friday x

The print above is available from here

Living Room Latest

Hi everyone. Sorry I haven’t been on here for a few days – between our new skirtings being installed and all our power points being moved, Grace and I were pretty much confined to the living room. I was also without an Internet connection for a little spell so my poor little blog has been a bit neglected. Thanks for all your get well wishes for Grace – she seems to be much better now and is almost back to her usual happy little self.

Here in Perth, we've had a record number of minimum temperatures below 5°C lately and in our little house, we're unfortunately still without a heater. The latest with our 'living room heater dying dilema' is that we have decided to go ahead and build out the section of wall required for a new in-built gas heater. I don't think the extra 30 centimetres will encroach on the room too much and either way, this step is inevitable if our vision of a glowing log-fire-look in-built heater is to come to life.

My mum's partner who is a carpenter has kindly said he can do this job for us so hopefully he can do so in the next week or so and by then, the unit we're ordering on Saturday should have arrived and can be installed. You can see our choice of heater here.

As for what to do on either side of the built out section of wall, we've decided not to rush into any decisions too soon, especially seeing as this is an expense we hadn't been expecting at the moment. With all the wonderful ideas I have gained from your comments back on this post, I will continue flicking through my mountain of interiors magazines and browsing online until I come up with the perfect design for our living area that is both practical and pleasing to the eye. In the meantime, I'll just have to keep warm on our couch snuggled up under our spare doona and try not to complain too much about how freezing it is in our house.

We do have some ideas for small changes we'd like to make to our living room in the near future which I'll share with you soon. For now, here are a few cosy looking living rooms with fireplaces I've come across so far...

Image #1 from Small Place Style

Image #2 from Ideal Home

Image #3 from Glimpse of Style

Weary Weekend

This past weekend for us was occupied mainly with a trip to the hospital, a visit to the after hours GP and trying to comfort Grace who's been unwell. She's fine thankfully and just had a virus which she's beginning to recover from. The photo above shows our little chicken on the bike we bought for her during the week.

Yesterday, we also had to do a bit of furniture shuffling as our new skirting boards will be getting installed on Tuesday and the carpenter needs one metre clearance around all the walls. Also, we got the piano - it is currently carefully covered in blankets in our garage until our new carpets are laid in a few weeks.

How did you all spend your weekend?

Sunny Yellow

Like many others, I’ve found myself drawn to yellow lately. Here are some images with little bursts of this happy colour to see you into the weekend…

Image sources: #1 & #2 #3 #4