Homely One

Our Mornings

2012-02-08T15:06:00.001+08:00

This is how most mornings start for Grace and I. She occupies herself at the kitchen table colouring in while I get our breakfast ready. Then we sit down together, eating our toast and cereal and chatting about our plans for the day ahead before Sophie wakes. I enjoy this quiet one on one time of ours together.

Slowly, we are beginning to have a bit more of a rhythm to ours days and while we aren't in a set routine just yet, I know roughly when Sophie will be due for a feed and when she will be due for a nap and so our days are becoming that little bit easier to organise.

This week it's just been us three girls at home as Paul is away on a fishing trip with some mates. We've been managing well so far and are enjoying simple days at home together. It's hard to explain the concept of time to a two and a half year old though. "Will Daddy be home after my nap?" Grace asked on the morning Paul set off. Tears welled in her eyes as I tried to explain that he would be away for longer than a day, longer than 'tomorrow' even. She's definitely counting down the days until Daddy comes home.

Hope you are all having a great week so far.

28 Sleeps Until My Birthday

2012-02-06T13:46:00.000+08:00

In almost exactly one month’s time, it will be my birthday… my 30th birthday. To be honest, I’m really looking forward to being 30. While I know no one’s life is ever perfectly rosy, I think I’ve had my fair share of difficult times over the past decade including watching my grandfather deteriorate from lung cancer, having my parents’ divorce, experiencing someone close to me go through a breakdown, my father-in-law’s passing after a six month battle with pancreatic cancer, going through IVF twice after a long period trying to fall pregnant and losing my dear Dad to a sudden heart attack. Of course, my happiest times have also occurred in my 20’s with memorable occasions like my wedding day, buying our first home and the birth of my two beautiful girls just some of the major highlights in a long list of wonderful times.

So, what do I have planned for this next chapter? I look forward to watching my gorgeous girls grow into young ladies, to spending time together as a family having adventures and fun, to continually making changes to our home and to nourishing my hobbies and passions. I did contemplate making a list of goals for the next ten years, but with my current New Year’s resolution to ‘live in the moment’, I’ve decided to do just that instead… to take each day as it comes and to welcome new experiences and opportunities with open arms… while of course, sharing every special step with you all along the way…

Image above from Pinterest

Container Planting Suggestions

2012-02-03T10:25:00.006+08:00

This morning I've woken to a much cooler day with a dull grey sky and rain falling gently outside - bliss! Yesterday, as Grace played happily in our backyard while Sophie had her morning nap, I sat on our patio, Yates Garden Guide in hand, planning some things to do in our garden once it cools down more. With the recent extreme heat Perth has had lately, there have been a few casualties around our place and I haven't had a very good record with our pot plants which seem to dry out very quickly.

I've been trying to research options for container plants. I have a large pot and a few smaller ones in the sun as well as a few under my patio to be filled. There's currently a hydrangea in one but I think it would be better in the ground and it tends to look a bit bare in the winter months anyway so I'm after something with year round foliage. My book recommends a Camellia, a plant I've always loved so I'm thinking that might be a possibility.

Can any of you suggest some options for pot plants that you've had success with?

Image above from Sunshine Ceramics where you can buy the cute little garden sign.
Be sure to check out Tracy's cute herb markers too.

Perth's Heat Wave

2012-01-27T10:22:00.004+08:00

Painting above by Debbie Miller

Today after an early morning errand, we've shut ourselves up inside and cranked up the air-conditioning as we're in for another scorcher today. Perth is going through a heat wave at the moment and after 41 degrees yesterday, the same is forecast for today. Since last weekend, we've had temperatures over 38 and this pattern is set to continue with 42 expected on Sunday too. Strangely though, we actually had a shower of rain and thunder and lightning last night too.

For Australia Day yesterday, we headed to the river for an early morning splash and tomorrow, we might go to the beach for a dip as soon as Sophie wakes (although we need to buy a beach umbrella first). On Sunday, I have my best friend's baby shower afternoon tea which I've been helping her organise. Our initial plans for a relaxing backyard afternoon tea were tipped upside down with this heat so now we're plannning a party indoors which I think will probably work out better anyway.

So today, we're not doing much other than hanging around indoors, doing quiet activities in the cool. I've promised Grace we'd play shops after morning tea so I'm off to be 'shop keeper'...

Gracie Girl

2012-01-23T10:41:00.005+08:00

After my update on Sophie last week, I thought this week I’d do an update on my ‘Gracie girl.’ Every day, I think about how blessed our family is to have her in it. Since having Sophie, Grace seems to have grown up SO much. Goodbye toddler. Hello little girl.

We’ve been lucky that through the past few tough months, Grace has been an angel. Paul and I are always saying, “she’s just such a good kid” and she really is. She has a beautiful nature and a sweet personality but also a cheeky little streak and a great sense of fun. The other day as I was preparing dinner, she looked up at me chopping an onion and said, “Don’t worry Mummy, if it stings your eyes I will get that tea-tower (tea towel) there and wipe them for you.”

Lately, she’s become so independent. I hear the phrases, “no, I’ll do it” or “I did it all by myself Mummy’ a hundred times a day. She wants to brush her own hair, put on her clothes, go to the toilet and hop in the car seat all by herself. Consequently, being unable to do such tasks can sometimes lead to a lot of frustration.

As for her big sister role, she relishes being the older sibling and is a real mother hen with Sophie. The other day, I popped out of the room and returned to find Grace fussing over her little sister. “There was just a little bit of chuck on Sophie so I wiped it off with a chuck cloth,” she said as she dabbed Sophie’s mouth.

From the moment she wakes, Grace talks non-stop. She’s a real chatterbox. It’s exhausting at times but so very entertaining. She is inquisitive and asks hundreds of questions, commentates everything and has an amazing vocabulary. Just yesterday as Grace and I wandered around the markets, she amazed a stallholder by pointing to a plant and saying, “Look Mummy, a frangipani!”

As she always has, Grace continues to love the outdoors. She’d be happy playing outside and pottering around in the yard all day if I let her. She is a real animal lover and often tells me that Asha is her best friend. She has no fear and doesn’t think twice about trying to pick up critters like lizards. Yet as much as she doesn’t stop, she’s equally happy to sit down and colour in at the kitchen table or create things with her play-doh for a good length of time. She is VERY neat and her colouring-in continues to amaze everyone. My teacher friends say she’s neater than half of their six year old students. She loves her stuffed animals and brings a whole menagerie of them to bed with her, lining them all up on either side of her along the pillow and tucking them in beneath the sheets. If one is missing, she knows.

I can see that this year with Grace approaching three will be such a fun one for us and I look forward to all the exciting times we will have together. The other night as I gave her a big cuddle I asked, “Do you know how much I love you?” to which she replied,”To the moon?” She’s half right. I love her to the moon AND back…

Cooking Club: Pot Luck Theme

2012-01-20T13:19:00.003+08:00

On Monday, we held our first Cooking Club for 2012. I'm so glad my friends were keen to continue with it this year as I really enjoy our little get-togethers where we try out yummy dishes and share new recipes. One of my best friends, Kylie, who is in our group, leaves today for Paris and won't be back for about five months so we wanted to make sure we snuck in a Cooking Club before she left.

We kept things simple this time with a Pot Luck theme and I too restrained myself with the decorating and other usual touches like prizes which I organise. I did however want to give the table a little touch of Paris and so I found some Parisian material in my fabric stash and added some blue, red and white hints to the centrepiece.

Our menu this time consisted of:

• Rice Salad
• Chef’s Salad
• Layered Chicken and Mango Salad
• Potato and Leek Tart
• Empire Chicken
• Cookies and Cream Cheesecake

Here is the recipe for the 'easy to prepare ahead of time' Rice Salad which I made:

Rice Salad

Serves 4 - 6

1½ cups brown rice, cooked
4 spring onions, chopped
1 red capsicum, finely chopped
handful chopped parsley
150g raisins
200g cashews
½ cup celery, chopped
½ cup green capsicum, chopped
¼ cup olive oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp mustard
2 tbsp red wine vinegar

Mix together olive oil, soy sauce, lemon juice, garlic, mustard and vinegar. Stir through cooked rice. Add other ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Welcoming Guests Into Your Home

2012-01-18T13:58:00.002+08:00

Image above from Home and Harmony - oh to have such a pretty front door!!

Recently, I taped a few things to watch while breastfeeding Sophie and found myself enjoying an episode of The Darling Buds Of May. For those not familiar with the series, it features the boisterous Larkin family and their life on Hope Farm, a family who welcomed anyone and everyone who entered their home with generous hearts and plenty of drink and food.

It made me think about the guests who find their way into my home. Do I make them feel welcome no matter whether they are invited or turn up unexpectedly? Do I have something on hand to offer them to eat or drink or do I have to apologise for my empty fridge and not having done the grocery shopping yet that week?

My Dad used to always tend to pop in for a quick visit and coffee on his way home from work, usually around the time when I was preparing tea. His timing definitely wasn’t intentional though. Sometimes, I would ask him to join us and make the meal stretch to feed three. Other times, I’d only bought two pieces of steak or only had enough leftover casserole to serve two. I wish now, more than ever that I had somehow ‘made do’, that I had shared the pieces of steak between us three and rustled up some side dish, even if it was only a scoop of baked beans. Dad wouldn’t have minded what was on the menu. He just would have appreciated the invitation and the chance to stay a bit longer and catch up with us.

How do you rate on this type of thing? Do you consider yourself a welcoming host?

Sophie's Smiles = One Happy Mama

2012-01-13T07:10:00.006+08:00

Time for a Sophie update as so many of you left well wishes, messages of encouragement and were eager to hear how things developed following our stay in hospital a few weeks back. Today she is three months old and we have been seeing a big improvement lately.

After ruling out reflux when her reflux medication made the situation worse, we determined that Sophie's unsettledness was due to a few reasons. Basically a lactose overload caused by my huge milk supply, a fast let down and Sophie's super strong sucking action were giving her an overfull, uncomfortable belly leading to very bad colic. Since our hospital stay, Sophie has been on shorter feeds and has gradually become a much happier baby. I don't know whether it's due to her new feeding regime, the natural colic medicine we've been trying, a few dietary changes I've made or the simple fact that Sophie is getting older but something is helping and I all I know is that it's pure bliss having a smily, more content baby now.

Over the past few tougher months, I've learnt a few things about colic and unsettled babies...

- It's not your fault. Even fantastic mothers can have unsettled babies.

- Try anything and everything. Whether it's one of the many over the counter natural remedies, an old wive's tale, a piece of advice from another mother or a tip you find as you trawl the Internet desperately trying to find a solution... try it. You never know, one may work and if not, you'll feel better trying to do something since there's no 'cure' as such for colic.

- When things start getting tough, overwhelming or stressful, ask for help. I found this hard as I felt like perhaps it was just me thinking that Sophie was so unsettled. Others would often only see her in her 'good moments'.

- You will find yourself unable to relax easily. When your baby is sleeping or quiet, you will be 'on edge' waiting for those cries.

- People will tell you to 'hang in there' or that everything will ease off around the 12 week mark but while you are dealing with an unsettled baby, this may seem hard to believe.

- Eventually, things will get easier and when your happier, smily baby grins at you with love, you too will smile because life is good.

Curio Box Transformation

2012-01-11T07:11:00.006+08:00

Today I thought I’d share with you a little project I finally completed last week. Back in September using the image at the bottom of this post for inspiration, I bought a little curio display shelf off Etsy as I had been unable to find a similar one in second hand shops. You can see the 'before' version here.

After very carefully removing the remaining glued down miniatures (no easy task due to the strong glue that had been used to adhere them), I gave the whole piece a good scrub with sandpaper. Paul then gave it several coats of spray paint for me. However, the paint didn’t adhere that well to the textured surface of some parts and I ended up using a paint brush to coat the inside walls of each compartment before giving it all one final coat of spray paint. Finally, I cut cute scrapbooking paper to fit the inside of some of the boxes.

I’m really pleased with the end result and now it’s waiting to be hung in Grace’s room. She’s already added a few treasures like shells and leaves and gemstones to it. I also gave her my two precious little owls. Having sentimental value I was always reluctant to let her play with them (especially after she broke one in two pieces when she dropped it on the floorboards and it had to be put back together with Supaglue). However, I recently decided that they would be perfect additions to her ’treasure shelf.’ The smile on her face when I said she could have them was worth more than their sentimental value in the end.

Multitasking And Thinking Ahead

2012-01-09T07:42:00.004+08:00

The other night, I was fairly organised for tea but just needed to fry some bacon for the potato salad I had made. Not wanting to risk fat spilling on her with such a task, I palmed Sophie (who was due to go back to sleep) off to Paul. “Just rock her and pat her on the bum while you sit down and colour in with Grace,” I told him. As Sophie’s cries became louder, Paul suddenly dropped his bundle, “I can’t do it,” he said. “How can you expect me to do two things at once? I can’t settle Sophie and play with Grace at the same time.”

I laughed. Welcome to my world.

As a Mum to two under two and a half, I’ve learnt that multitasking involves doing a minimum of ten things at once. For example, I find myself hunting around the house for clothes so I can throw on a load of washing while I help Grace do a jigsaw puzzle, carry around Sophie and begin to organise dinner all at the same time.

I no longer walk from room to room with one purpose. If I head into our room to grab a nappy for Sophie, I’ll bring some clothes I’ve just taken off the line and folded with me to put away. On my way out again, I’ll collect a toy Grace has left lying in the hallway.

As well as multitasking, thinking ahead has become routine. I’ll sometimes set out clothes to wear the night before so I’ll make less noise in our bedroom (where Sophie’s bassinette is) in the morning. Plates and cutlery for tea are often waiting on the kitchen bench in the afternoon. Components of meals are made in advance to take advantage of moments when Sophie is sleeping or settled. One morning recently, I had boiled eggs and potatoes for a salad, poached some chicken and cooked some rice all before ten o’clock to make meal preparations for the following three days that little bit easier.

I realise that this pace of life is just a stage and that as Sophie gets older each month, daily life will become easier but I also realise it’s important that each day, I have a little bit of time to just be in the ‘now’. As someone told me recently, I need to sit down and just have a cuppa and take some time for me occasionally too. And so, that is what I’ve been aiming to do more of lately –to wander around in our yard seeing how things are growing, to browse a few blogs or write a post, to sit down with a magazine and a cuppa and to learn to appreciate simple daily pleasures without worrying about whether the dishes have been done or being bothered by a pile of washing yet to be folded… and most importantly, to enjoy all the special daily moments with my two precious girls.

My Current Ikea ‘To Buy’ List

2012-01-06T07:58:00.004+08:00

I think a trip to Ikea in the near future is in need. While browsing online recently, I wound up at their site and it was here that I found several new items to add to my wishlist.

Back in August, I had seen a cane armchair on Gumtree which I was disappointed to miss out on. Since then, I’ve been hunting for one with Paul still saying ‘why don’t you just find a new one you like that you won’t have to bother painting.” I do really like this one from Eco Chic, but it has a hefty price tag and I don’t want to really buy a chair online when I haven’t actually sat in it. Then, I discovered the new Ikea chair above. So long as it’s comfy when I sit in it and a suitable size, it looks perfect for what I have in mind.

The lanterns above would also be lovely on our patio where we are hoping to inject a bit of character. I like the effect of glowing candles when entertaining outdoors in the evenings and now that we’re hoping to have more barbecues, we need to add a few more around the place.

Have you been to Ikea lately? What was your most recent purchase?

Image from Ikea Share Space found via marte meee
Image #2 marte meee (originally from the Ikea website)

Giveaway Winner

2012-01-04T18:37:00.005+08:00

Firstly, I must apologise for taking so long to draw the winner of my giveaway. Between our stay in hospital and the busy Christmas / New Year period, it wasn’t at the top of my priority list. But I’ve finally added all your names to the bowl and had my little helper above pick out a name.

The winner of my giveaway is Kate of Mamma Musing. Congratulations! Please send me an email to the address on my sidebar to let me know your postal details and I’ll get your goodies in the mail to you as soon as possible.

Thank you all for entering.

Happy New Year!

2012-01-02T13:15:00.009+08:00

New Years Eve with little ones isn’t quite the same and so ours was a quiet night at home. I was tucked up in bed by ten o’clock which I find is the latest I can stay up these days without feeling exhausted the next morning.

At this time of year, I always find myself reflecting on the twelve months that have passed and making plans for the ones ahead. Looking back on the goals I had set myself for 2011, I was happy to see that several had been completed. I finished Grace’s first year album, started up my Cooking Club, had a few little child-free outings once in a while and not only became pregnant, but also had our bub Sophie in the same year. Unfortunately, my intentions of learning to crochet and improving my photography skills will have to roll over to this year’s list.

I have lots of plans floating around in my head for 2012. Lots of homely projects I’d like to complete. Places around town I’d like to visit. Things I’d like to learn (like crocheting and using our DSLR). Activities I want to try with Grace. Recipes I want to cook. However, my motto for the moment is to slow down and enjoy the simple daily pleasures that make my life so special, to live in the ‘now’ and to take each day as it comes.

And so on that note, I wanted to wish all of you out there a Happy New Year. I hope 2012 is one filled with much happiness for you. Thank you to all those who read my blog, who take the time to leave comments or send me emails and who make my whole blogging experience such an important part of my days. Here’s to a wonderful year for us all!

A Few Christmas Photos

2011-12-30T14:10:00.006+08:00

Well, Christmas has come and gone for another whole year and it’s hard to believe it’s almost 2012. We had a fun (albeit exhausting) time in our little household with Grace really being able to understand the whole gift giving concept and enjoying all the festivities that come along with this season. She was very disappointed though to discover that her Advent calendar had finished!

Our morning was spent with the four of us checking to see whether Santa and his reindeers had been, exchanging gifts and playing with new toys. Grace was very excited to see that the beer and biscuits we left out had been enjoyed by Father Christmas and that the broccoli we left for the reindeers had been devoured (I had a piece of broccoli due to be thrown out so I figured, why waste it?)

Late morning, my Mum and sister came over to help get lunch on and open more presents and then Paul’s Mum joined us for our lunchtime meal. We kept things simple with turkey, ham, salad and potato bake followed by the most delicious lime cheesecake which my sister made. I was very grateful to my Mum, mother-in-law and sister for organising all the food for me.

At night, we went to Paul’s cousin’s house where we spent the evening with his aunts, uncles and cousins.

Here’s a few family photos…

The Christmas I'd Planned To Have…

2011-12-23T15:15:00.005+08:00

Image via weheartit

Entertaining guests and decorating when it comes to parties is something I love doing. So when we decided to have Christmas lunch at our place this year (to make things easier with Sophie as we’ll be going out at night) I was excited at the prospect of the pretty table and traditional Christmas lunch I’d be able to plan and prepare. With only six of us, I thought doing so would be easy.

Unfortunately, this isn’t the case when you throw a newborn into the mix and a stay in hospital for Mummy and bub two weeks before Christmas. I’ve been very disappointed that unfortunately I haven’t the time or energy to do all that I was hoping to do this year. Wrapping my presents prettily and baking things like Christmas biscuits hasn’t happened. However, I've now accepted our position this year and know in my heart that the important thing is that we’ll be spending Christmas with our family. I also can't wait to share in all the excitement of Grace really being able to appreciate this time of year and all the fun that goes with it.

I hope you and your loved ones all have a wonderful Christmas and a safe and happy New Year.

We've Been In Hospital...

2011-12-17T07:59:00.003+08:00

After persisting with a frequently unsettled Sophie since we brought her home from hospital and attempting to find a solution through various reflux medications when the situation became worse as the weeks passed, I reached the end of my tether on Wednesday night. Sophie had been in pain after her feeds as usual but after screaming uncontrollably for hours (at a whole new scale) and with none of the usual tricks like a warm bath or a feeding at least comforting her a bit, I was concerned something may have been physically wrong and so took her to the children's hospital emergency department. From there we were transferred to a children's ward in another hospital for her to be monitored.

Nothing conclusive has been discovered yet and we're assuming her issues are stemming from our little piggy overfilling her belly with my fast flowing milk as opposed to it being reflux as her medication appeared to be making things worse. Also, she had put on double the expected weight since her birth and jumped from the 75th percentile to the 95th! So today we're back at home and trying shorter feeds to see if that makes a difference at all before a follow up appointment on Monday. I'll keep you all posted...

P.S Will draw the winner of my giveaway soon I promise!

My Current 'Lifesavers'

2011-12-09T10:09:00.005+08:00

Over the past few weeks, there have been lots of things that have helped life at home with a newborn. I thought I’d share some of my ‘lifesavers’ with you…

Brownie mix – I love baking but life at the moment makes it extremely hard to do so as often as I’d like. It’s hard enough preparing tea let alone baking a batch of biscuits (I haven’t made any since the Nutella ones). I do like something sweet out of the oven though so my saviour has been a packet mix I was put onto by a cousin – Betty Crocker’s Triple Chocolate Brownie Mix. All you do is add two eggs, water and oil, stir it with a wooden spoon and bake it for just under half an hour. They are delicious, so moist and just as good as my usual brownie recipe. I keep one in the pantry on ‘stand-by’.

Laptop – buying our laptop back in September was one of the best things we’ve ever done. Having the flexibility of using the computer anywhere has been really handy, especially the other day when I was making a salad and needed to check on some ingredients of an online recipe.

Bag insert – earlier in the year, I won a nappy bag giveaway on Bloesem Kids and knew it would be perfect come October. Along with the bag that arrived was an insert with dividers and pockets which you can take out of the nappy bag and put into a normal bag. It means I don’t have to lug around nappies and wipes and things if I just need to pop to the shops by myself and don’t forget any essential items I do need.

Good toys – One of the toughest things about having a newborn AND a young toddler is trying to keep the older one occupied when breastfeeding or changing nappies. Having new or interesting activities is a must. Grace has all of a sudden taken a great liking to play dough and will sit for at least an hour at her little table making all sorts of creations. Another winning toy has been a floor puzzle. Grace spreads all the pieces out on the rug and puts it together as I breastfeed Sophie on the lounge and help from the side lines by giving her instructions.

What is your current 'lifesaver' making things that little bit easier for you at the moment?

My Plan For This Week

2011-12-05T08:26:00.003+08:00

Image above via Pinterest

Sometimes, I go through a bit of a blogging block where I don’t quite know what to type or I haven’t taken photos to accompany something I’d like to write about. Other times, I feel as though my head is over-flowing with ideas and inspiration and I can’t post quick enough to share everything with you all. This week is one of those weeks. Unfortunately, with things a bit all over the place here at the moment, it may take me longer to write those posts than I’d like.

After a weekend I’d rather forget, I’m all set to start the week fresh. Thankfully we don’t have a lot planned besides a Child Health Nurse check-up for Sophie tomorrow so this week I’m hoping to:

• do some online gift shopping
• buy all our Christmas presents in one hit at the shops
• try some new reflux medication for Sophie
• catch up on blog posts and reply to long overdue emails
• place a big bulk Coles online shopping order to last the next few weeks
• plant the new herbs I bought (when it cools down later in the week)
• sort through Grace’s toy boxes

What do you hope to cross off your ‘to do list’ this week?

Also, if you missed my last post, I'm having a little giveaway... Enjoy your Monday everyone!

Giveaway Time!

2011-12-02T09:02:00.003+08:00

Back in October, amidst my days of playing the ‘waiting game’ in anticipation of Sophie's arrival, I missed the little blogging milestone of Homely One’s two year anniversary. Quite a few years ago now, the first blog I ever discovered was sfgirlbybay. I visited a link to it which I’d found in a Real Living magazine and through it, discovered decor8 which in turn led to blog after blog after blog. It became a new hobby and I soon had quite a list I visited regularly for inspiration and ideas. I can still remember sitting in our study, rocking Grace who was only a few months old to sleep in my arms as I read through posts.

One day I decided to bite the bullet and start my own blog in order to create a space where I could share house projects and renovations we did as well as decorating ideas I came across online. Over time, my blog has evolved and changed direction a bit and these days, Homely One has become a bit more personalised and focused on all the happenings in our little household. While I still do read lots of ‘big name’ blogs, it is the smaller ones I prefer these days, bloggers who I have connected with and formed friendships with. I never could have imagined how much I would gain through blogging – I have ‘met’ so many lovely fellow bloggers whose kindness, compassion and thoughtfulness never cease to amaze me.

So, as a thank you to all those who stop by and leave comments and make my blogging all the more enjoyable and to give back a little of the joy I receive through this hobby of mine, I have put together a little pre-Christmas giveaway. It is a package of things I use or have bought recently myself and contains a set of cute herb markers, a butterfly cookie cutter, a CD I often play as background music around our home or when entertaining called ‘Paris Café’, some blue and white cupcake cases, two Cath Kidston guest soaps and a set of Cath Kidston paper napkins.

To enter, all you need to do is be a follower of Homely One and leave me a comment so I know you’d like to be entered into my draw. If you do not have a blog yourself, please leave your email address with your comment so I can contact you should you be the lucky winner. My giveaway will be open until 5.00pm (Perth time) on Monday 12th December.

Good luck and have a wonderful weekend!

Energised And Motivated

2011-11-28T11:33:00.002+08:00

Today I am feeling energised. My weekend was a lovely one- I was able to pop to Spotlight for a little browse, got lots of washing done, made chocolate brownies (packet ones) and painted with Grace, had afternoon tea with some visitors and yesterday, the four of us had a little picnic lunch at a park. Grace was well behaved – obliging, helpful and happy. As for Sophie, apart from the usual unsettled periods in the evenings, she slept fairly well and was easier to resettle when needed. She even gave me the luxury of a few longer blocks of sleep which I appreciated.

Perhaps it’s the made up sleep which has put me in such a good mood and got me all enthusiastic or perhaps it’s the warmer weather Perth has been experiencing but I’m really eager to do things. I have lots of blog posts I want to write. I want to try some new healthy recipes using seasonal fruit and vegetables. I’m itching to start decorating the nursery and to sort through all the lovely clothes and other gifts we’ve received for Sophie. I’m keen to get out in the garden (Paul will laugh at that one as he jokes it’s been nine months since I’ve done any gardening). I want to go on picnics and enjoy the sunshine. I want to start getting organised for Christmas.

What do you feel more keen to do when the warmer weather hits or when you’re in a more upbeat mood than usual?

Cookies You Have To Try…

2011-11-25T09:01:00.002+08:00

Thanks to some wonderful friends and family members and thanks to all the meals I made and froze at the end of my pregnancy, I haven’t had to do a lot of cooking lately. This has been extremely helpful as Sophie’s most unsettled time is usually in the evening when dinner needs to be sorted out. I have rather missed cooking though and while I’ll have to work out how best to organise and prepare meals with a newborn in the house, I am eager to get back into the kitchen.

Last week, keen for something sweet to have with my afternoon cuppa, I made a batch of biscuits from a new recipe I’d seen a while back on A Spoonful Of Sugar which I’d been wanting to try. It took me all afternoon to make them in between feeding Sophie and keeping Grace occupied, but it was worth it as they were delicious. Do yourself a favour and buy a jar of Nutella this weekend and make a batch. Be sure to enjoy several while they’re still warm too. Here’s the recipe I followed from A Spoonful Of Sugar…

Nutella and Oat Cookies

½ cup butter, softened
½ cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup Nutella
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup plain flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (350°F). Line a cookie sheet (or two) with parchment paper. Cream the butter, sugar, and brown sugar together with an electric mixer. Add the egg, vanilla, and Nutella and mix until well incorporated. Add the flour, oats, baking soda, and salt and mix until combined. Roll into balls, flatten with a fork, and bake for 7 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on wire rack.

Mosquito Free Outdoor Dining

2011-11-22T15:17:00.003+08:00

Photography by Steven Randazzo for Country Living
found via Pinterest

With the weather over here in Perth starting to heat up (we have 37°C forecast for tomorrow), here in our little household we’re eager to spend more evenings playing in the backyard and eating dinner outdoors. There’s just one problem. Mosquitoes. If there’s one around, you can be sure Grace or I will be bitten alive. Grace’s bites often turn into lumps and I have to end up giving her an antihistamine.

I don’t want to spend the next six months indoors once dusk comes so I’m searching for a solution to keep the mozzies away. I find the green mosquito coils we place around at barbecues quite effective and the tropical strength insect repellent is fairly good too but I’d like to find something that is a bit more natural to use on a more regular basis. I already use citronella candles but I was keen to see if there were any more natural solutions that exist.

In one of my Shannon Lush books, she recommends using lavender oil as an insect repellent. Her suggestion is to wipe doors with it or to make a spray of 500ml of water and 2.5ml of lavender oil to spritz over yourself and your clothes. Another of her ideas is to place a lavender or pelagonium plant near your doors to keep mosquitoes at bay (apparently there’s a pink-flowering geranium colloquially called the mosquito plant because of its repellent properties).

What have you found works best against those nasty mozzies? Has anyone tried the lavender oil suggestion?

Filling You All In...

2011-11-17T14:52:00.003+08:00

I’m back!! Boy have I missed you all and this little corner of blogland of mine. A month on after having Sophie, I finally feel like things are a bit more manageable and I’m getting back into the swing of things. I started this blog just over two years ago when Grace was a baby and I found myself craving some ‘me’ time. Once again, as much as I’m enjoying simple days at home with my girls, I’m missing the online community I’ve become a part of and so the time feels right to start posting again. I may not be able to write as often as I’d like but I am eager to share so much with you all, to slowly catch up on everyone’s latest news and to be inspired as always by all of your lovely blogs (stay tuned for a little giveaway I have planned too). So here’s a little update on what’s been happening in the Homely One household …

Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for your comments and good wishes on Sophie’s arrival. They truly warmed my heart. Sophie’s birth went really well. After being induced, I was in labour for six hours and I wouldn’t change a thing about the experience. Our hospital stay was great and I enjoyed the early days of getting to know our precious little baby girl. We had a few people drop by on the Sunday to meet Sophie, but I soon declined requests to visit as I was exhausted and preferred to spend the days with just Paul and Grace. We stuck to a little routine during my hospital stay which I think helped Grace cope as well as she did being away from me. We did have occasional tears though and Grace’s plea of ‘please you come home Mummy, pleeeease!’ broke my heart one afternoon. However, by the last day, she was so excited to be heading to ‘Nan’s house’ for tea that I didn’t even get a kiss goodbye.

When I returned home, I found the initial few days very overwhelming. The baby blues definitely kicked in and together with the sleep deprivation, I found myself constantly teary. Thank goodness I had Paul home and my Mum had taken a few weeks off work to help us out. I became a bit of a hermit as I didn’t feel up to visitors at all and found just getting through each day extremely tiring. Sophie was also quite unsettled as I had an oversupply of milk. The fast flow was causing her to get tummy pains and the frequent feeding just seemed to be adding to the problem (if anyone has any advice in regards to this breastfeeding issue please let me know!!)

Slowly, as the days went on and I caught up on sleep, things became more manageable and I felt better able to cope. These days, Sophie is feeding every three or four hours and I’m managing to get around six hours of sleep (broken up by feeds) each night. However, I try and time things so the two girls are both napping after lunch and I attempt to and catch up on sleep here myself. I find it so hard keeping my eyes open in the middle of the night as I sit propped up in bed breastfeeding, but I do treasure these quiet times alone with my bub.

Grace is rather smitten by our newest family member and wearing her ‘big sister’ badge with pride. She is eager to help with baths and nappy changes and yesterday I caught her trying to console Sophie by patting her lovingly and saying, “Don’t worry, I’m here.”

Gradually, I’m finding little strategies that help make my days with two little ones more manageable and I’m feeling more confident in my new role as a Mummy to two. And while I’m cherishing these precious newborn days as we don’t plan on having any more children, I’m definitely looking forward to having a bit more routine to our days, for breastfeeding to become a more peaceful experience once my milk settles down and for the night when I wake up after a block of solid sleep. In the meantime, I’m soaking up every little precious moment with our little bub Sophie…

It's A Girl!!

2011-10-23T18:38:00.003+08:00

Meet the newest member of our family... Sophie Alexa. Born Friday 21st October at 2.29pm, weighing 7lb 11oz.

All is going really smoothly and we are enjoying our hospital stay and these early days of getting to know our new bub.

See you back here soon once things settle down a bit...

Grace’s Quilt Is Finally Finished!

2011-10-17T09:29:00.005+08:00

Do you know how long I’ve been waiting to type those words? After literally months, Grace’s patchwork quilt (my first one ever) has finally found its home on top of her bed. It was the one project I’d been desperately hoping to complete before bub arrived. However, the main issue I’ve had has been finding the time to actually sit down and sew without interruptions and consequently I’ve had to work slowly on this project doing it bit by bit. Also, my sewing skills are very basic (I’m pretty much self-taught apart from a term’s worth of high school sewing lessons) and so I’ve become very well acquainted with my ‘unpicker’ tool as well as my sewing machine’s instruction book. Being a perfectionist definitely hasn’t helped either.

Thankfully, my friend Kylie has been very tolerant of my numerous quilting questions and another friend from work, Tracy, was willing to drop everything one weekend to help me. She kindly top-stitched the quilt for me on Saturday night with her special ’walking foot’ and attached the binding on, knowing that I was desperate to get it finished and my due date was looming. I am ever so grateful to her.

I’m really pleased with how it turned out. I love the combination of fabrics and colours and like the girly touch it adds to Grace’s room. It isn’t perfect but it’s been made especially for my darling girl with lots of love and that is what makes it so special. It has also been rewarding personally to work on such a large project and it makes me happy to be able to say ‘I made that’. I can’t count the number of times Paul said, “I’ll give you $50 to just go and buy a quilt” as I sat on our lounge complaining about having to unpick a row of stitching for the hundredth time.

For anyone interested, my finished squares are 3 ½ inch. As well as some existing pieces from my stash, I literally bought my fabrics from a whole range of places including Spotlight, Etsy seller This And That From Japan and online store Sunshine and Hunny Quilts. For anyone local to Perth, I also used Calico and Ivy, Patchwork At Homespun, Carol’s of Midland and Southlands Fabric and Sewing Centre. I also included one type of fabric which I cut from an old cotton dress of Grace’s.

So that’s my first ever quilt completed! I’ve really enjoyed getting back into sewing but I think I’ll stick to smaller projects for the next little while. Although, with a newborn due to arrive literally any day, I think my sewing machine will be guaranteed of a rest for the next few months at least…

Around Our Place

2011-10-15T20:01:00.006+08:00

This week has been a fairly quiet one for Grace and I as we haven’t ventured too far from the house. Apart from my Mum and a few friends popping in here and there, we’ve had lots of tea parties, spent plenty of time outside picking flowers and collecting snails (Grace is infatuated by them) and done a bit of baking. Yesterday we made a batch of delicious Mini Raspberry Melting Moments to enjoy for our morning tea which you can see above on the pretty china side plate I bought last weekend from a church fete.

I have also managed to get a few little crafty projects done, just a few small things for Grace’s room like the tissue box cover above. I’d originally seen a tutorial on Janette’s blog and ended up using a combination of two – the one she’d seen on Design*Sponge and one from here. I’ve also managed to finish adding a few new small touches to our ensuite and once I hang the little piece of artwork I’ve made, I’ll share some photos of it with you next week.

Today I’ve been alternating been pottering around the house and sitting outside in the glorious sunshine (after having a downpour of rain last Sunday and hail, tomorrow we have a forecast of 35!) Paul has been laying lawn all morning and ‘Grace’s Garden Corner’ is starting to slowly look a bit better now that the brick path and grass are in. You can see a current shot and before shot above. I have seen a cute little table and chairs at Bunnings which I’d love to get for here and once we fill the sand patch in the corner with sand, we just need to decide what else is going to go on the lawn – trampoline or cubby…?

How have you all spent your Saturday? Do you have anything special planned for tomorrow?

Waiting...

2011-10-11T17:39:00.003+08:00

Today is officially one week until my due date and while the countdown is on, I’m trying to appreciate every moment I have left with this precious bub kicking away inside my belly. My house is clean and tidy (thanks to my wonderful Mum who has been constantly stopping by to help me do chores that I’m finding difficult), my hospital bag is all set to go and I’ve done as much ‘nesting’ in these past few weeks as my energy levels will allow.

Each day, I spend time thinking about how our family is about to change. About what it will mean to be a family of four, about how Grace will adjust to being a big sister and about how I will find my new rhythm as a Mummy of two. I wonder about how my labour will go. After having such a clear idea in mind with Grace’s birth, this time around I have no plan at all and have let all expectations disappear. But I feel at peace about what is ahead of me and know it will be an exciting time for our little household…

Image above found via Courtney Moser on Pinterest. Original source unknown.

Laptop Blogging

2011-10-04T13:19:00.002+08:00

Up until now, my computer time was limited as whenever I wanted to blog or browse the Internet, I had to shut myself in the study to do so. This meant Grace could get up to no good while I wasn't watching her and I therefore only tended to use the computer while she napped. With a new baby on the way very soon, we decided that it would be a good idea to get a laptop, an inexpensive simple one that I could use mainly for writing emails or blogging which we could use around the house. That way, Grace could be playing happily and I could keep my eye on bub while still using the computer.

On the weekend, we made a purchase and I must say, I'm so glad we did. As I type this post, I am sitting outside at our patio table while Grace is next to me digging in her sandpit. Last night she came down with a cold (which I'm crossing my fingers I don't catch) and while she lay exhausted on the lounge this morning resting, I was able to sit next to her, and catch up on a few blog posts. I am loving the convenience and flexibility of a laptop.

On a side note, I had my 38 week appointment this morning and bub is still head down since the 'turning procedure' and looking very comfortable. I'm hoping that he or she stays put for the next two weeks now.

Also, sorry for the late giveaway draw but the winner of my fabric bunting which was drawn using a Random Number Generator (sorry I have no idea how to include the graphic in this post, you'll just have to trust that I'm an honest person) is... #2 Sonia of Raine and Sage... I'll be in touch Sonia to get your details.

Image above via weheartit

This Week...

2011-09-30T09:39:00.007+08:00

Sorry for my unintentional week off blogging. On Tuesday I had my 37 week obstetrician appointment and unfortunately bub was still in the breech position. This meant that on Wednesday I spent some time at hospital as my doctor attempted to turn the baby. I was given an injection in my belly to temporarily soften my uterus (which unfortunately had side effects of making me feel light headed, shaky and caused my heart to beat fast) but these were all bareable and gradually wore off. After less than a minute of prodding around, just as I was psyching myself up to block out any discomfort, my obstetrician announced, 'there, done!' and bub had been repositioned head down. I barely felt a thing. Hopefully now he/she will stay in this new position and hold off making an appearance until a bit closer to my due date.

I've been taking things very easy lately and have purposely made no plans. I just take each day as it comes, am staying fairly close to home and besides an odd errand here or there, I mainly potter around the house. My to-do list each day has been dramatically pared back to three things - one household chore, one small organising task (as in tidy ONE drawer) and one bit of something I want to do such as crafting or decorating. The rest of my time is spent enjoying Grace's company. Yesterday we baked a batch of biscuits together, today we're planning on doing some painting.

One creative project I have had time to do this week was to make a pillowcase for Grace to go with her quilt. It is made with two types of strawberry fabric and some vintage ribbon I'd bought off Etsy a while back and still had in my sewing box. Grace loves it and calls it her 'strawberry pillow'. Her bedroom makeover is almost complete and I can't wait to share it with you all. The little blue gingham suitcase above which I'd ordered online from Little YoYo Styles arrived in the post earlier in the week and is also a new addition to Grace's room.

Hope you've all had a great week and have a lovely weekend planned...

A Little Giveaway...

2011-09-23T15:25:00.005+08:00

As promised in my Pink Ribbon Day Party post, today I have a little giveaway up for offer. I have decided to give away the string of bunting I made to a reader/follower of Homely One who has a use for it. I realise that its colours and patterns may not be everyone's cup of tea but if there is anyone who has a place to hang it up or would like to put it aside for a party of their own, please leave a comment below and I will draw the winner next Friday afternoon (Perth time). My only conditions are that anyone who enters must already be a follower.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend...

Pink Ribbon Day Party

2011-09-21T14:13:00.014+08:00

Each year for the past few years, I’ve held a fundraiser to raise money for Pink Ribbon Day and breast cancer research. Pink Ribbon Day usually falls in October, but with my due date being the 18th of October, I decided to hold one in September instead. I tried to be sensible however, keeping my guest list small and sticking to a small number of dishes (two of which I had others make, one of which I bought).

My lovely friend Lyndell managed to take some photos for me so I could focus on being a good hostess, so here are some details from the party…

For the food, as I shared with you all in my Party Planning Tips post a while back, I tried to balance my sweet and savoury dishes which included

- Finger sandwiches (chicken, chives & aioli and cheese & cucumber)
- Chicken and mango balls
- Homemade sausage rolls
- Fresh fruit
- Scones with jam and cream
- Lemon and pistachio slice
- Mini raspberry melting moments
- Mini chocolate mousses

This would have been the perfect amount of food for the 14 guests who were coming. With all the extra plates people rocked up with (despite my saying to ‘just bring yourself’) we had plenty.

For the main table, a piece of floral fabric left over from Grace’s quilt made a table runner and fit in well with the Cath Kidston napkins I showed you a sneak peek of in Monday’s post. All my dishes were served on white or glass platters. With the same scanned pattern I used on my invites, I made some little signs on Microsoft Publisher to label each platter. Above the table, I hung a string of fabric bunting which I quickly whipped up using scraps of material. You can see it in the background of the shot below where Grace is ‘riding’ Asha and in the invite shot above.

As for flowers, I used two jars of snapdragons on the main table along with two floating red camelias from our garden. On the drinks table and smaller tables around which guests were seated, jars of pink ranunculi made a pretty show.

As gifts for each guest, I ordered some more of those pretty bags I used at my Teatime Treats Cooking Club from Etsy store Jade L’il Craft and filled each with packets of seeds (some were flower seeds, some were vegetable seeds depending on the guest). A little label and some washi tape to seal the back finished them off nicely and I displayed them in a little fabric covered box.

To raise money for breast cancer research, I held a little raffle. The prize was a geranium plant and was won by one of my aunties who has the most beautiful cottage garden which I thought was quite appropriate.

Overall, it was an enjoyable morning (after the chaos of last minute setting up and food preparation) and the weather held off for us so we could enjoy the sunshine outside. Thank you to my guests who brought along a plate, to my Mum and best friends who helped me set up, prepare food and clean up afterwards and especially to Lyndell for taking these gorgeous photos for me and letting me share them with you all here on my blog.

Be sure to check back on Friday for my party related giveaway…

All photos © Lyndell (except the dodgy invite shot which I took)

Around Our Place

2011-09-19T14:36:00.008+08:00

To start off this week, I thought I'd share a few random photos of what's been going on around here lately...

On Saturday, I held my annual fundraising party to raise money for Pink Ribbon Day (I'll share some photos later in the week). As usual, I had heaps of fun with all the planning and decorating, although I have to admit I had a 'what am I doing hosting an event at 36 weeks' moment on Friday afternoon. Despite rain last week, the sun came out and I was able to have my morning tea outdoors as I'd hoped. Above is a little sampler of things I used to style the table. For readers who are new to my blog, you can see my post on last year's event here.

I have finally made a start on packing my hospital bag. I still have a few things to wash before adding them to my bag as well as a few things to buy and a few things that can't be thrown in until the last minute. I found the pretty checklist above on The Coterie Blog although I've since added a whole stack of other items to it.

This book and magazine are currently sitting on my bedside table. I borrowed the book from the library last week as we had already decided on first names for bub but were yet to choose middle names. This is still a work in progress. The girl option is decided but as for boys' names, I find it really hard being a teacher as lots of names immediately conjure up images of naughty boys I've had in my class. As for the magazine, I'm hoping to spend some time relaxing this week flicking through it's pages.

My 'jobs to complete before 36 weeks' has taken a bit longer to work through than I'd anticipated, especially as most of last week was spent organising Saturday's party. I couldn't sleep last night and found myself lying in bed thinking 'what if I went into labour early, would I be ready?' So, I got out my torch and notepad and pen and jotted down the things I felt HAVE to be done before bub arrives. Thanks to trying out online shopping last week with Coles, I have already crossed 'stock up on groceries' off my list. I was happy with using this service and will definitely be using it again in the future. I didn't buy any fresh produce though, just packaged stuff, but it meant that all Grace and I had to do was pop to the butcher, bakery and fruit and vegetable shop, all of which could be done with me pushing Grace in the stroller. My pantry is now nice and organised and its top shelf is filled with spares of things we use often.

And finally, a package I had been waiting for arrived in the mail today with the cute little curio box above. I had been searching for one for Grace's room for a while now and found the above one on Etsy. Thankfully it arrived safely and is now ready for me to spray paint white and transform into something similar to the one in the picture below. I've already chiselled out a few trinkets that were still glued inside the boxes, now I just need to work out how to remove the remaining spots of glue before prettying it up.

Image source unknown sorry
Update: Photo by Tracy Nors via Ohdeedoh (via BabySpace)

So this week, I'll be pottering around the house, working through my 'to do list' and enjoying simple daily pleasures and moments with Grace. I also have a few little giveaways planned for the near future, so be sure to pop back soon...

Cooking Club: Favourite Dishes

2011-09-14T14:19:00.004+08:00

Saturday night just gone was our latest Cooking Club. This time our theme was 'Favourite Things To Cook' and we had a range of delicious food to try.

To set the table, I stuck to white and an aqua blue. Some graph paper material I had bought a while back off Etsy made the perfect table runner and went well with some placemats I already had. My centrepiece was a fern which usually lives in our laundry and on either side, I had two little juice bottles which I'd covered with paper and ribbon to hold some simple flowers from our garden.

My spot prize this month was a butterfly cookie cutter, a ready made 'hot chocolate spoon', a bar of stainless steel soap (for removing cooking odours from your hands) and some recipe cards (which I printed off and made up after finding them available on The Pretty Blog).

Our menu this time consisted of the following...

• Chicken Breasts with Sage Butter & Prosciutto
• Spinach Salad
• Red Prawn and Mango Curry
• Homemade Pizza (of Little Caeser’s fame)
• Chocolate Mousse
• Caramel Dumplings
• Chocolate Mudhoney Pizza
• Lemon and Pistachio Slice

Our next catch-up won't be until mid November, after bub has arrived and I've settled into life with a newborn. At this stage, we're going to do a Pot Luck theme again as it was good to have a range of dishes to make up our night's menu.

For those who are interested, here's the Nigella Lawson curry recipe which I'm hoping to make tomorrow night for tea...

Red Prawn and Mango Curry

Serves 2-4

1 x 15ml tbs wok oil
1 spring onion, finely sliced
1½ x 15ml tbs red Thai curry paste
200ml coconut milk
250ml chicken stock (made from concentrate)
2 tsp fish sauce
1 x 350g pkt butternut and sweet potato cubes
200g king prawns
1 tsp lime juice
150g mango cubes, diced
3-4 x 15ml tbs chopped fresh coriander

Heat the wok oil in a large, heavy-based frying pan and fry the sliced spring onion for a minute, then add the curry paste. Whisk in the coconut milk, chicken stock and fish sauce and bring to the boil. Tip in the butternut squash and sweet potato cubes and simmer, partially covered for about 15 minutes or until tender. Drain the prawns under running water to remove excess ice and tumble them into the pan. Let the sauce come back to the boil. When it does, add the lime juice and diced mango and cook for another minute or so until the prawns are cooked through. Sprinkle with the chopped coriander as you serve over plain rice or wide rice noodles, or even both.

NB. If you don't have access to the ready-peeled cubed pumpkin and potato, this recipe suggests alternating them for some drained chickpeas and some pineapple.

Bump Update: 35 Weeks

2011-09-12T15:26:00.004+08:00

Image source unknown sorry

My conversation with Grace this morning gives you an idea of how much my belly has grown lately...

Grace: "Where's your belly button gone Mummy?"
Me: "It disappeared"
Grace: "The baby take (took) your belly button... maybe when the baby gets bigger it give it back"

That's right, my belly button has finally popped. Apart from that, I'm still pretty much all baby with a little compact basketball bump, although I definitely stick out further than the gorgeous silouette above. I'll try and take another bump photo soon.

Last Wednesday I had to go for an extra ultrasound as my obstetrician thought that my belly wwas measuring small for dates. Thankfully, my placenta is working fine and there is plenty of fluid around the baby who was moving very actively and was only slightly under the average weight for this stage of my pregnancy. Unfortunately though, bub has done a major flip around in the past two weeks and is now in the breech position. I'm hoping he/she will move but until my appointment next week, all I can do is wait and see.

I'm starting to feel more uncomfortable as the weeks go on and sleep on some nights is becoming progressively harder. I am definitely finding myself slowing down more too and am giving myself until the end of the week to get all the essentials I want done. Anything I achieve after then will be a bonus. I have yet to organise my hospital bag but I have been putting aside some special gifts I have bought for Grace for when she visits me in hospital which I'll be sure to pack.

So fingers crossed bub goes back to being head down this week, otherwise he/she could be here a bit sooner than I'd anticipated and the birth I'd pictured might not quite eventuate. But I guess at the end of the day, I just have to trust my obstetrician and as long as bub arrives safely, that's all that really matters.

Happiness Is Found In Little Things

2011-09-09T14:42:00.009+08:00

The title of this post is borrowed from my childhood Hollie Hobbie mug which I took on a picnic with Grace earlier in the week and it sums up my week (post trolley incident) perfectly. After a few mishaps, the latter part of the week was free from plans so Grace and I have been enjoying time together outdoors in the sunshine.

Yesterday we packed our rug, thermos and morning tea and had a picnic at a park together. We enjoyed our goodies, fed the ducks and played on the swings. Grace's comment of "Mummy, I so like having picnics" has made this outing something I hope to do more often.

Today we headed to the river with our beach towel and bucket. Although the water was choppy, Grace loved running up and down along the sand collecting shells in her bucket and I soaked up the sunshine as I enjoyed a milkshake and watched her.

Another thing that has made me happy this week includes my slightly cleaner house. My Mum came over on her day off to help me clean and organise our place as I had gotten myself into a bit of a rut and had the 'where do I start' dilema. Mum was fantastic. She got stuck into things, had me feeling motivated and left my place looking much tidier than before. Now I just have to keep it that way.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend...

Grocery Shopping Disaster

2011-09-06T14:26:00.003+08:00

Photo by Graham Yelton

Last week, I was thinking about how I should try online grocery shopping and do a big bulk buy up pre-baby. I've been finding my usual grocery shopping task has become too hard as trying to lift Grace into the seat at the front of the trolley as well as pushing and unloading heavy bags with my belly has become very difficult. An incident this morning confirmed this.

It started out as a good outing. Grace was happy in the trolley and I scooted up and down the aisles as quickly as possible. Heading back to the car however, the sloped paving plus my heavy load suddenly made the trolley impossible to steer and it began veering towards the kerb. With visions of Grace toppling out, I tried with all my might to re-correct it, also wary of not straining my belly in the process, but it was no good. I crashed into a car on the verge, the trolley ended up on it's side against it and I hurt my shin in the process.

No one came to help me.

So I came home, unloaded my shopping and sat down with a cuppa to watch Grace playing happily and to try and calm my nerves. I'm still getting belly kicks so it looks like all is okay in that regard which is all that matters really. Fingers crossed it won't cost too much to fix the dent in the other man's car.

So after all that, I'm definitely going to look at my grocery shopping system a bit closer. I figure if I can do an online shop once a fortnight or so for packaged/canned stuff, then I'll be able to get away with a quick visit to the green grocer, bakery and butcher each week.

How do you do your shopping? Do you do a weekly or fortnightly shop and have you tried online grocery shopping?

Freezing Meals

2011-08-31T15:46:00.006+08:00

Photo above by Ralph Anderson via Southern Living

I’ve decided I’m going to give myself the next three weeks to get all the essentials ready before our bub arrives, that way I can spend the remaining month taking things easy. One of my ‘essentials’ is stocking my freezer full of meals for us to use in those first weeks when we arrive home from the hospital. Our freezer isn’t all that big however so I need to find an efficient way of storing things so I can cram as much in as possible. I’m keen to find the perfect storage containers, preferably ones that are BPA free. I bought a few Pyrex dishes the other day as then I can reheat meals straight from the glass dish but these tend to be pricey.

In my searching for meal freezing ideas, I came across a few handy resources. I love the idea of the labels below as I think it’s important to have the date of frozen meals labelled. I will definitely be printing off a little batch of these to use. The link for the PDF file for these labels is here.

Image above from Martha Stewart

Another useful find was a table listing the freezer life of different foods. I’m always phoning my Mum asking her questions about freezing or reheating dishes, so this table will be handy for me. I might put it up somewhere inside our pantry. This article on the Taste website is also handy for knowing the best way to store particular dishes.

I’m keen to know which storage containers you all use. Do you use different ones for different dishes? Are you too avoiding any plastics with BPA? Which meals do you find are the best for freezing? So far I’m planning on freezing spaghetti sauce, lasagna, muffins, cookie dough, pesto, soup and perhaps a curry (although I’m not sure this is the best idea with breastfeeding?) What else would you add to my list?

Excuse This House

2011-08-29T17:39:00.004+08:00

As I looked around my house this afternoon at the dishes sitting in the sink and the pile of washing waiting to be folded and put away, as well as the other endless household tasks I had yet to tick off my to-do list, I thought of a poem I’d come across recently here:

Excuse This House

Some houses try to hide the fact
That children shelter there
Ours boasts of it quite openly
The signs are everywhere

For smears are on the windows
Little smudges on the doors
I should apologise I guess for
The toys strewn on the floor

But, I sat down with the children
And we played and laughed and read
And if the doorbell doesn't shine
Their eyes will shine instead

For when at times I am forced to choose
the one job or the other
I want to be a house wife but
FIRST I'll be a mother

Author: Unknown

Image above found via Gingerella

Friday Flowers

2011-08-26T14:17:00.005+08:00

As I heard the noisy rubbish trucks early this morning (our sign that it is Friday), I couldn't believe that it was already the end of the week. I don't know where this week has gone, I feel like I've kind of fumbled through it and not really achieved a lot and so I have a big 'to do list' for this coming weekend of things I hope to achieve.

Our garden has been a bit bare over winter so today, I thought I'd share this little posy which is currently in our laundry. While I haven't actually planted any freesias, we get the occasional ones popping up amongst our agapanthus plants so this week, I picked all that I could find and placed them here on the window. They have the loveliest subtle scent.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend.

Etsy Baking Supplies

2011-08-24T13:49:00.003+08:00

In my Etsy browsing lately for a few parties I have coming up, I came across the store Sweet Estelle’s Baking Supplies. If you’re after anything cupcake or party related, be sure to check it out. It has a range of decorative cupcake liners, paper straws, party favour bags and cake decorations. Here are a few items which caught my eye…

All photos above by sweet estelle's

Pottering Around The House

2011-08-22T14:29:00.006+08:00

Image via weheartit

As much as I’ve grown to love winter, I do find that when the weather is a tad warmer and the sun is out shining, I’m far more motivated to get things done around the house. Such was the case over the weekend.

I am however finding that lately, my pottering around the house tends to be a bit scatter-brained. One minute I’ll be hanging out the washing, the next I’ll sit down and work on a bit of Grace’s quilt, only to find myself sorting and organizing baby clothes in the nursery all within the same half hour. Over the weekend, I just went with the flow and managed to get a range of things done.

It’s a bit the same with my decorating plans. There are so many ideas floating around in my head at the moment, I’ve been trying to jot down things immediately so I don’t forget. Similarly, while I am making progress slowly on a range of creative projects, my ‘to make’ inspiration folder is overflowing with things I’d like to try. I think I definitely need to open a Pinterest account.

Here’s hoping my muddled way of doing things lately is simply related to pregnancy…

Quote For Today

2011-08-17T14:36:00.004+08:00

I don’t who the quote below belongs to or where I found it, but I think it’s a good one…

“Always be thankful for what you have, no matter how little. For there will always be someone who dreams to have what you've got”

It reminds me of something my Dad used to always say to me, that there’s always someone in a better position than you and always someone worse off. It’s important to count our blessings no matter how small they may seem. It is for this reason I try hard not to focus on the hiccups and little things that annoy me and instead, try to find the positive wherever I can in my days.

Today I am grateful for…

… Grace keeping herself occupied so I could prepare dinner. The steamed vegetables and cauliflower cheese are ready in the fridge and I have corned beef simmering away in the slow cooker. It will be nice to be able to use my usual meal preparation time this afternoon to have some fun with Grace instead.

… having fresh flowers in our home. I bought the bunch above at the shops on Monday and it really is nice to see something pretty fill the space on the corner of our bench.

… being able to look down at my nicely filed and painted nails. I’ve been hunting for the perfect natural shade of nailpolish for a while (not too pink, too white or too transparent) and finally found it at Witchery over the weekend. It’s called Pale Peony and with two coats plus a top coat, it’s lasting beautifully.

… finally having stitched into strips the 169 squares for Grace’s quilt (after much unpicking and adjusting). I now have to sew the 13 rows together but it’s lovely seeing progress finally happening.

… having lovely blogging friends and readers. Thank you for your kind comments on my last post and ‘bump photos’. You are all so sweet and truly put a smile on my face.

What are you grateful for today?

Bump Update: 31 weeks

2011-08-15T13:58:00.004+08:00

I find it hard to believe that already, I find myself at the 31 week point of this pregnancy. With Grace, everything seemed to drag on. This time around, I'm feeling the weeks fly by. I'm at a point now where I'm so eager to meet our new baby and am feeling more relaxed about everything although I do find the thought of there only being nine weeks to go a bit frightening.

Physically, I'm feeling more energetic than ever. From my first obstetrician appointment until now, I've put on six kilos. I've been fortunate that apart from the usual negative pregnancy symptoms (heartburn, indigestion, leg cramps, rib-cage discomfort) everything has been going smoothly. However, I did lie in bed the other night feeling contractions (presumably Braxton-Hicks contractions) wondering whether I would be going into labour early, especially as I'd had a dream the night before that our baby arrived ten weeks prematurely!!

I've started sorting through Grace's old baby clothes and feel as though progress is slowly happening in the nursery. Any neutral coloured 0000 and 000 sized clothes are being washed and put into the drawers and anything girlie or pink is being put aside in a crate for now. Our old bed base finally sold on Gumtree so the cot is in position (although we'll be using a bassinette in our bedroom for the early months). Now comes the fun part of decorating the room which I'll be sure to keep you up to date with...

New Slice Recipe

2011-08-12T14:14:00.005+08:00

Today has been one of those great days where I've accomplished lots and had a balance of chores as well as fun with Grace. I was all set to have an unsettled day after coming home last night from the movies to find Grace still awake as she was adamant that Mummy had to put her to bed and not Daddy (we've had this issue since she was sick last week). However, today she woke up fresh and had been absolutely perfect. With no particular plans, we managed to do a few loads of washing, headed to our favourite cafe for a cup of tea and a babycino, enjoyed the glorious sunny day here in Perth today at the park, had an obstetrician appointment (all going well, will give you all a 'bump update' next week) and enjoyed our lunch outside.

Grace is now down for her nap and before I get stuck into sewing some more of her quilt, I'm just enjoying a cuppa and a piece of a new slice I tried the other day while I browse for some inspiration for a few parties I have coming up. I thought I'd share the yummy recipe with you all. As with most baked goodies, it tastes best not long after it's come out of the oven, but is still fine the day after too...

White Chocolate And Cranberry Squares

150g butter
185g white chocolate
2 eggs
100g castor sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
150g plain flour
pinch salt
zest of 1 lemon
75g dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 180°C (I set my fan-forced oven to 160°C) and grease a 10" square cake tin. Melt butter and half of the chocolate and whisk until smooth. Cool slightly. Beat eggs, sugar and vanilla until frothy. Stir in butter/chocolate mixture. Add sifted flour, salt, remaining chocolate which has been coarsely chopped, lemon zest and cranberries. Bake for 30 minutes or until the top is set. Cool in tin for 20-30 minutes. Cut into squares and dust with icing sugar.

The cute little dish in the photo above is my latest thrift find. I bought it at the quirky cafe/giftshop we stopped at in Bridgetown where it was amongst a collection of antique crockery.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend ahead...

Latest Favourite Photo

2011-08-10T15:00:00.004+08:00

This is my latest favourite photo of Grace. I didn't even ask her to pose like that, the photo just kind of happened. All those hundreds of dodgy shots are worth it if you can manage to get just one you love.

I hope you're all enjoying your week so far. We're off to celebrate my lovely Mum's birthday tonight. Below is the card Grace made for her. I printed out a cupcake outline and Grace 'coloured it in' and added the sparkles and glitter to the parts I glued for her. What a mess glitter makes!!

Cooking Club: Teatime Treats

2011-08-08T14:00:00.008+08:00

On Saturday afternoon, we had our 'Teatime Treats' Cooking Club get together and I think this theme would have to be one of my favourites we've had so far. Dishes could be either sweet or savoury as long as they were something suitable for a morning or afternoon tea.

To decorate the table, I used a more 'Nanna-looking' white embroidered tablecloth and added some touches of pink and mauve with a bunch of pink ranunculi and two small jars of Geraldton Wax (which I snipped from the bushes growing beside the road at the end of the street). A piece of pretty pink floral fabric leftover from Grace's quilt made the perfect placemat for the centre of the table. I really didn't want to use my boring old white and silver crockery so I borrowed some pretty teacups, saucers and side-plates from my Mum and sister to put together with my own and ended up with a mix of different patterns, all within the same colour palette. I tried to research the correct way of setting the table for an afternoon tea - some references placed the cup and saucer on top of the side plate, others described what I did.

As a small party favour for each guest, I bought some cute floral paper bags from Etsy shop Jade L'il Craft which I filled with a selection of different tea bags. The spot prize for this month was a cookbook filled with scrumptious looking chocolate recipes.

Our menu consisted of:

- Chicken and Asparagus Sausage Rolls
- Arancini
- Lemon Cake
- Red Velvet Cupcakes
- Ginger Fluff Sponge
- Spicy Apple Teacake
- Chocolate Chip Cookies

Next month, we are going to have a potluck theme of 'Something I Enjoy Cooking' so I'm hoping we'll have a range of things like soup, mains, dessert, cake and so on.

For anyone who would like to try it out, here is the recipe for the Lemon Cake which was so moist and tasty...

Lemon Cake

5 eggs
250g castor sugar
250g melted butter
250g flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 lemons (juice and zest)
250g icing sugar
100g melted butter (for icing)

Beat eggs and sugar and then slowly add melted butter. Add sifted flour and baking powder and mix. Cook for approximately 10 mins at 180°C (my friend said she used her biggest slice tin which is about double the size of a normal one). For the topping, mix icing sugar, melted butter and the lemon juice and zest. Prick the cake with a fork and pour over topping mix while still hot and allow to soak through.

Lounge Room Plans

2011-08-05T09:12:00.005+08:00

Today I wanted to share with you all my thoughts for our lounge room and to get your input into how things should be decorated. A few weekends ago, we visited the Finishing Touch Gallery in Fremantle where we came across a limited edition print we both loved and bought for our lounge room. Painted by Greg Baker, it is of the Swan River around the South of Perth Yacht Club where we had our wedding reception. We had it framed up nicely and are very happy with how it looks.

I have since decided that a navy blue cushion is needed for the lounge chair beneath the print (I have draped a tea towel over the cushion in the photo above to try and picture this) as I think it compliments our new print better than the existing light blue one. Also, I think a blue patterned throw is needed to bring things together. I’m wondering if the one below would be suitable. What do you think?

As for our piano, a little Ikea stool has proven to be the perfect seat. It is easy for Grace to climb up and down on herself and a great height. I just need to decide what colour to paint it – at the moment, I’m leaning towards a steely blue. The top of the piano will probably remain relatively clear as I’ve found certain objects tend to vibrate when they’re placed on top and the piano is being played.

To bring this area together better, I’m on the hunt for an armchair. I had Paul temporarily place our chair from the nursery here to get a feel for what it would look like and while the Poang and striped cushion won’t be staying here, I definitely think a seat of some sort is needed in this space. I’m not sure whether a cane one like I’m envisaging (similar to the one below which is available in different stains) is the best option, or if a more formal looking armchair would be better.

As for the buffet in the dining area, this definitely needs some display pieces. I’ve decided on a collection of smaller artworks for above it rather than one larger piece. Some colour is definitely needed here to bring some life to the room and tie it in with the lounge area. I still like the idea of lighter slip covers for the chairs one day down the track too (the white table cover is not normally on there, I was just getting ready for this weekend’s Cooking Club).

Next week, I’m also going to get some curtain companies to come out and quote on curtains for this room. The current beige verticals clash badly with the cream lounges. In fact, with curtains, the blinds won’t even be necessary at all as I tend to either open these fully during the day or close them across at night. I’m leaning towards something light coloured and will probably do the same on the dining room window. Should the curtains draw to one side or both? Do I need a pelmet? So many options to consider!

So what do you think? Am I on the right track with my ideas? I’d love for you to share any thoughts or decorating tips you may have…

Wintery Sunday Drive

2011-08-01T14:54:00.005+08:00

There’s a place out towards the Avon Valley that Paul and I visited one wintery day a few years back that we’ve wanted to visit again ever since. With showers and windy weather forecast yesterday in Perth, Paul suggested we go for a drive out towards Toodyay and try and find it once again. Firstly, we stopped at a store we always enjoy browsing through called Emporium which has a collection of antiques as well as new homewares. Here we bought a rusty wire duck for our garden.

We then tried to find the café and were about to give up when Paul decided to try one last road, Chittering Road and sure enough, there was our tin shed tea room at Golden Grove Orchard. It was still the simple little rustic café we remembered with a woodfire stove in the middle keeping the place warm and toasty, old saws and tools displayed on the walls, a basic menu of sandwiches, soup and Devonshire teas and sixties music playing in the background. We stopped for lunch and then bought some freshly squeezed juice from the orchard out the back. We left feeling happy that we’d found our little café and glad we’d decided to go for a Sunday drive.

Over the weekend, I also made great progress on Grace’s quilt (I have changed my mind about the design and colours for the hundredth time!!) and could really see things starting to come together. Halfway through sewing all the squares together however, my machine decided to play up and started sucking the material into the feeder teeth. So today I’ve taken it to be serviced and looked at, eagerly awaiting its return so I can continue sewing. You can see the progress I’ve made on the quilt so far below.

That’s all from me today as Grace came down with a cold last night and none of us got much sleep. She’s pretty miserable so I’ve just been pottering around the house, tidying up and trying to keep her happy. Wishing you all a lovely start to the week…

Two New Blog Gems

2011-07-29T15:15:00.005+08:00

If Paul ever wanders into the study when I’m on the Internet, he often complains that I have too many windows open on the screen at once. It’s not uncommon for me to have eight or nine windows on the go. You know how it happens - a blog you’re reading posts a link to another amazing blog which leads you down another path where you discover something else amazing and so on. Today I thought I’d share some of the lovelies I’ve recently come across.

A Spoonful of Sugar is a fantastic source of inspiration, tutorials and recipes for all things crafty and homely. Lisa and Sarah are a mother-daughter blogging team from Perth and as I read back through their older posts, I found myself bookmarking ideas one after another. The fabric covered noodle box above for example is very cute and something I’d like to try and the gorgeous aqua and red quilt Lisa made definitely caught my eye.

Having been working on Grace’s quilt lately and searching for inspiration, I came across Amy’s blog, nanaCompany. She describes herself as a homebody who looks for the beauty in everyday life. I enjoy seeing the projects she is working on and browsing through the Flickr collages she puts together.

Have you discovered any great new blogs recently?

Images #1 and #2 via A Spoonful of Sugar
Image #3 via nanaCompany

Family Holiday

2011-07-26T14:34:00.007+08:00

Today I had the unenjoyable task of unpacking and doing load after load of washing as we've just arrived home after a three day getaway down south to our favourite country town, Denmark. We wanted to have a little holiday with just the three of us before our baby arrives and it was wonderful spending a relaxing few days together away from the day to day routine. Grace did much better than we anticipated being away from home, although she was definitely a bit anxious about Asha not being with us. She was perfect on the ride down and after our lunch break at Williams, she slept for most of the remainder of the journey. Similarly on the return trip, her napping coincided with our longest stretch of driving. She was fine being in an unfamiliar bed and enjoyed all the new sights and experiences.

Whilst in Denmark, we drove around the Scotsdale Tourist Loop admiring the lovely views and stopped briefly at the Rickety Gate Winery where Paul tasted and bought some wine. Our highlight of the trip was definitely the few hours we spent exploring the Alpaca Stud and Animal Farm. Grace was in her element here and adored feeding all the animals. She was fearless, not hesitant at all to wander in the alpaca enclosure or to hand feed the camel. She was more than content wandering in the rabbit and guinea pig cage by herself, picking all of the animals up and giggling as they jumped around her feet. Her favourite animals by far were the two baby goats. "I'll look after you," she said as she cuddled the pair. When we had to leave, I told her to say goodbye to them and she burst into tears crying, "take baby goats home."

One of my favourite things we did was stopping for lunch in Bridgetown on our drive home at a cute little cottage I've always been entrigued by when we'd previously passed through. It was called Horti Towers and really was a unique little place. We arrived as it began to bucket down with rain and sat down at the only indoor spot, a table for three beside the pot belly stove. Inside, every wall was covered in brick-a-brack, every shelf and display cabinet packed full of trinkets and treasures. I managed to come away with a cute little antique dish. I also loved how our lunch was served on mismatched crockery, a bit like a Mad Hatters tea party and the soup I ordered was one of the nicest bowls of soup I've ever tasted.

So now, we're home sweet home and Paul has the rest of the week off work which is nice. I have our next Cooking Club to plan for and am hoping to buy a few last fabrics so I can finally sew Grace's quilt.

I hope you are all having an enjoyable week and I hope to catch up on all your blog posts I've missed over the next few days...

Computer Issues

2011-07-22T08:09:00.006+08:00

Image above found via Poppies and Sunshine

Thank you all so much for your kind and thoughtful words and prayers yesterday. You don't know how much all those messages of support meant to me.

I'm having a few computer issues at the moment so I will be back as soon as I can sort them all out over the next few days.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend ahead.

July 21st… Another Year On

2011-07-21T07:52:00.003+08:00

Today it is two years since my Dad passed away. I think I feel sadder this year knowing that we are expecting another baby… a baby Dad won’t be around to see. He would have been so thrilled knowing he had another grandchild on the way.

One of the things I miss most is the genuine interest and support Dad showed for us. He shared our excitement over good news, was always keen to hear what we’d been up to over the weekend and listened eagerly to us describing plans for projects around our home. Most of all, he used to love hearing about Grace’s latest developments. I can picture how his face would have lit up watching her now as a little girl.

Today (depending on the non-stop rain that is forecast), I’ll visit the cemetery and leave some carnations on Dad’s grave (these were the last bunch of flowers he gave to me) and I’ll spend some time thinking about the father I’m proud to say was mine.

Source of top image unknown sorry.

The bottom photo is the most recent one I have of my Dad.
My favourite photo however is the one here of the two of us.

My Weekend

2011-07-18T14:45:00.007+08:00

Hope you've all enjoyed the weekend. Mine was a productive one, even though a few things didn't go in my favour. On a positive note though, lots of good things happened over the weekend too. We purchased a new print recently for our lounge room and yesterday Paul put it up (I'll share some photos of our lounge room later in the week). I also crossed another project off my 'nesting' list which I am happy about. I had photos scattered everywhere as I had accumulated all of Dad's old photos, a bunch my Mum had recently passed on to me and a whole heap of my own which were literally thrown in a cupboard. Yesterday afternoon, I sorted through them all and while they are not organised neatly in a photo box yet as I'd like, they are organised in piles and I have managed to whittle them down to just those I want or have a need for. Aren't the photos above so lovely? I adore old photos like this - the school boy is my Dad and the one of my Nanna on the right is one of my favourite natural shots of her.

On Friday, Grace spent the day at my Mum's while I had a sewing day with my friend and her fellow quilting buddies. I spent virtually the whole time cutting out blocks for Grace's quilt. Now they are laid out on our lounge room floor so I can try and perfect their arrangement. Every now and then I walk past and swap a square around. I've been debating whether or not to add a touch of green fabric to the mix (the green square above is a piece of cardboard) and the grey Russian doll fabric is not going to stay, it's just there while I wait for the version with a white background to arrive in my mailbox. Today I went to buy some more of a particular fabric I had decided to use to bind my quilt only to discover they had none left.

Another thing I missed out on was that cane chair. After blogging about it in my last post, I must have jinxed myself as I was all set to arrange to go and look at it (after it had been listed for a few weeks) only to receive an email that the item was no longer available. I was so disappointed, especially as so many of you could see its potential like I could. Paul was secretly happy. I'll have to keep hunting.

How was your weekend?

Preloved Treasure Search

2011-07-15T07:54:00.003+08:00

I wish I was one of those people who have the knack of coming across those ‘wow’ pieces in Op Shops or Ebay. As you all know, after my issues with Grace’s bed, she now has an ensemble one I'm happy with. However, I am still hunting for a bed head like the one above. Unfortunately this perfect piece was in NSW. There was a similar ideal one on Perth’s Gumtree a few weeks back but sadly I missed out on it. Even if I find a whole bed frame, I’d be happy to just use the headboard and ditch the other pieces. I’m trying to be patient, telling myself that what I’m after will show up ‘one day’.

Another piece I wish I’d been able to get my hands on was this round coffee table I spotted on Etsy. Being in the US, shipping to Australia wasn’t really an option unfortunately which is a shame as I absolutely love this piece and its design. I can picture it fitting in perfectly in our living area where we recently sold our previous heavy looking one. Once again, I’m hoping that ‘one day’ I’ll stumble across a similar one around here.

In the meantime, as a I was browsing for various pieces, I came across the cane chair above in Fremantle which I’m hoping to take a look at tomorrow. Paul doesn’t quite see its potential. ‘Who’s going to want to sit in that old chair?’ was his comment when I excitedly showed him my discovery last night. Once I explained to him that the photo didn’t show the cushions which also went with the chair (which I would recover) he warmed up a bit more to my idea. I’m thinking this chair would be good for a ‘feature armchair’ for our front lounge which is slowly starting to come along.

I’d love to know your opinion – with a makeover, does this chair have potential or am I wasting my time looking at it tomorrow?

Mummy Daughter Morning Tea

2011-07-13T18:49:00.004+08:00

Often, the mornings I enjoy most are the ones where we have no particular plans at all. Today, our coffee catch up with some cousins had been cancelled at the last minute so Grace and I headed to one of my favourite suburbs, East Fremantle, to the George Street Precinct where we stopped at our cosy Hubbles Yard Cafe for a pot of tea, a babycino and a delicious raspberry muffin. Grace was focusing hard on the task of carefully scooping off her froth and I was able to enjoy a nice warm cuppa. Afterwards, we had a play at the cute park on the corner of George Street and Hubble Street where Grace had fun playing on all the unique play equipment while I enjoyed the winter sun.

It's mornings like these I really hope I am able to continue after I have our next baby. Our little morning tea outings together are a special time and I hope that I will still be able to sneak out now and then for some precious one on one time with my little girl.

Hope you are all having a lovely week so far...

The Joys Of Motherhood

2011-07-11T14:42:00.002+08:00

Today started off as a good day. Grace woke earlier than usual but despite this, was content to play and keep herself busy while I had a shower, checked the email, made breakfast, put on a load of washing and even did a spot of vacuuming. We took a drive to visit my Nanna at her retirement home where we enjoyed a cuppa and some biscuits and on the way home, Grace even nodded off in the car (very rare for her but I think she was catching up on sleep after skipping her nap yesterday and having woken in the middle of the night).

Anyway, when we got home, Grace was busy playing with her toy kitchen in her bedroom so I decided to use the time to get a few chores done and then, seeing as she was still singing away happily, I ironed all the fabrics for Grace’s quilt ready for cutting and sewing this week. I should have learnt that a quiet Grace means she is up to no good.

When I went to check on her, she had whipped off her soiled nappy (so much for our great run of toilet training) and I then spent the next hour cleaning, scrubbing and washing. So, I figure with dinner already sorted, my housework tasks for today done, as well as the extra cleaning I’ve had to do, I’m entitled to sit at this computer with a cuppa or two while Little Miss Naughty is napping.

I’m off to boil the kettle again…

A Balanced Week

2011-07-09T14:25:00.007+08:00

This past week has been a good one as I feel as though I’ve accomplished a range of things and balanced everything I’ve wanted to achieve. There’s been a bit of socialising, a bit of fun, a bit of entertaining, a bit of cleaning, some cooking and baking, some organising and some crafting. If only every week could be like this!

My housework time this week saw me put aside a few tasks like vacuuming the bedrooms and instead, I organised our linen cupboard (one of the tasks I said was bugging me back here). It feels so nice to open its door and see everything all nicely arranged on its shelves where it is easy to locate. I've even labelled everything which may seem a bit over the top, but I figure it will stop Paul’s excuse of ‘I don’t know where it is’ when I ask him to get something out.

Also, each day, I’ve worked a little bit on finishing off Grace’s 1st Year Photo Album, something which was actually on my list of goals for 2011 and which I am please to say has now been accomplished. The monthly tags I used on each page were from Elle's Studio on Etsy. Here are a few of my favourite pages…

How has your week been? Which task are you proud to say you’ve completed?

Where To Hide A Guest Bed

2011-07-06T08:55:00.004+08:00

Image from Country Style found via Brabourne Farm

Having a four bedroom house and with one being our study, turning our current spare room into the new baby’s nursery means that we no longer have the space for a spare bed. My Mum and mother-in-law both suggested we hang onto the bed for a bit longer, especially as we’re planning on our baby sleeping in a bassinette in our bedroom for the first six months. However, our bedrooms are tiny and keeping the bed means that the cot would need to be dismantled and stored and I plan on using it for day sleeps with bub so this is not possible. Also, our spare bed is very rarely used. I can count on one hand the number of times it has been slept in since Grace was born when whoever was babysitting stayed the night (if we were going to be out late at function like a wedding).

So, what to do without a spare room any more? I’m considering buying a fold up bed as the ones I saw at a bed shop recently looked considerably more comfortable and larger than the one I remember us having when I was growing up. I’m not all that keen on blow up mattresses and a sofa bed is not an option as we will not need a new lounge any time soon. At least with a fold up bed, I can store it somewhere in a corner easily and drape a nice quilt or something over it to camouflage it a bit.

What do those of you without a spare room do when someone stays over? I’d love to hear your ideas…

Image from Tumblr

Dreaming Of A Holiday…

2011-07-04T14:23:00.001+08:00

Lucky duck Paul got to spend the last three days in Sydney for a manager’s retreat. Whenever we’ve been to Sydney in the past, we’ve had a great time staying at the Swissotel, wandering around Paddington and its surrounding suburbs and soaking up as much of this wonderful city as we could.

Lately, I’ve been thinking more and more about holidays – about staying somewhere with luxurious bedding, enjoying the novelty of eating most meals out and exploring the towns and cities we visit. We haven’t had a holiday since our family holiday in January last year so between now and October, we’re hoping to head down south to a few little towns, just the three of us before our new baby arrives.

The photo above is of one of my favourite places (besides the Swissotel) which we stayed at in Launceston back in 2007 when we travelled around Tasmania – Kurrajong House. It was such a character filled home, decorated beautifully with lots of antiques and surrounded by a gorgeous garden.

Do you have a favourite place you’ve stayed at in the past? I’d love for you to share…

Revisiting The Classics

2011-07-01T20:55:00.004+08:00

Photo by Amy of nanaCompany found via Suziebeezie

Hope you have all had a good end to the week. It’s bitterly cold and wet here so we haven’t ventured far at all today instead choosing to stay rugged up indoors with our heater keeping us warm and toasty. My lovely friend Lyndell visited us for morning tea and since then I’ve been sitting here in Paul’s jumper trying to get warm (it’s times like these I wish we had a laptop so I could blog away and still be cosy).

Anyway, a post I read on Simone’s blog this morning got me thinking about the ‘classics’ I read and loved as a little girl. I think I first got into these stories when I was given ‘Anne of Green Gables’, a book which remains an all time favourite of mine even today. Lately, I’ve been wanting to read some of these wonderful books again and currently I am working away through another favourite, Little Women.

Another of the first books I received was ‘The Secret Garden’. It was in the lost property at the hospital kiosk where my Nanna worked and after a while of being left unclaimed, my Nanna brought it home for me. I can still picture its red ‘leather’ cover and fine textured pages. Sadly, this was not one of the books I decided to keep in later years and I have no idea where it ended up but I had been thinking recently about how I would keep an eye out for it at the local second hand bookshop.

Then, as I was blog hopping today, I came across the above image. Similar to the Penguin clothbound classics style of book cover, this range for children had me instantly drawn in. I am going to order 'The Secret Garden' and perhaps also 'Anne of Green Gables' (which I do already own but I am tempted by this version’s pretty cover). They will make a lovely keepsake to pass on to Grace when she is older.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend ahead…

Staying Healthy Over Winter

2011-06-29T14:30:00.004+08:00

Back when I was teaching a class of 30 children, I usually only caught one or two colds a year. Last year was a totally different story and it felt like every fortnight I seemed to have picked up some new cold or cough from Grace during chillier months. This winter, I'm going to try and avoid a repeat by looking after myself a bit more so I don't get run down by...

- starting each morning with a mug of warm water and lemon juice
- taking Vitamin C each day along with my usual multivitamin
- increasing my fruit and vegetable intake
- increasing my water intake

I also want to pamper myself a bit more, especially in the months leading up to October. While I cleanse, tone and moisture religiously morning and night, I forget to do things like exfoliate, put on a face mask or slather on body moisturiser. I'm going to try and make time for small things like these more often as well as for relaxing soaks in the bathtub.

What are your tips for keeping away the winter nasties or pampering yourself a bit more?

Image above via weheartit

My Vision For Grace's Room

2011-06-27T08:04:00.005+08:00

Happy Monday! I hope you have all had a lovely weekend. I feel especially good this morning as I finally feel as though I've made a small start on the weekend on the organising projects which have been bothering me. I've almost finished tidying our linen cupboard, I've taken photos of the furniture we need to sell and listed it on Gumtree and Grace's room is slowly coming along as I hunt for / work on various pieces.

On Friday, the Moroccan leather pouffe I ordered from the UK arrived and it is even prettier than I was expecting. To begin with it will have a place next to the bed in Grace's room and then later on go in the living room where it can add a tiny hint of the pale pink I'm after. I stuffed it with rags which I have found to be a good filling and a sturdy weight.

In recent weeks, my ideas for decorating Grace's room have changed slightly. I'm leaning towards slightly more colourful fabrics for the patchwork quilt I'm making with patterns comprising of pink, cornflour blue, white, green, yellow and red. My idea is to provide an eclectic room with different colours as well as modern and older pieces that create a space Grace will enjoy spending time in.

My vision so far includes:

• a pretty patchwork quilt / bed throw made by me in a combination of fabrics
• an older style bed head (either a wrought iron or a cane one)
• a Moroccan leather pouffe to add a pretty touch
• a display shelf of some sort to display trinkets and treasures Grace collects
• a small string of bunting in cute fabrics
• a hanging mobile of either paper cranes or butterflies or a dream catcher
• a magazine rack or wall rack of some sort for book storage
• a play corner for Grace’s ‘teddy tub’ and new wooden kitchen
• a combination of artwork made by Grace and me, including the cross stitch owl above that I have embroidered (remember this sneak peek?)

Any other suggestions for Grace’s room? I have most of the fabrics for Grace’s quilt now and will begin working on it in a fortnight when my friend Kylie is on holidays and able to get me started on the right track. I will give you an update once Grace’s room is looking more complete.

Hope you all have a wonderful start to the week.

Nesting Instincts

2011-06-24T08:44:00.003+08:00

Image above found via Kelly McCaleb's Tumblr

I was talking with one of my friends recently about how in recent months, I’ve felt an overwhelming desire to get my house organised and orderly (believe me, I have a fair way to go at present). She labelled my feeling as me trying to make everything as perfect as it can be before baby #2 arrives which I guess in a way it is. It’s like I think that if things don’t get done now, they’ll never get done once our baby arrives and my time is even more limited.

Firstly, I am desperate to get our nursery organised. Once Grace’s room is sorted, I will be able to move onto the new baby’s room and set up furniture, go through all of Grace’s old baby clothes and baby gear and get onto the fun part of the actual decorating. However, before any of this can be done, I need to sell our old ensemble base, the pretty bed frame and our old coffee table which are currently taking up space in the spare room. This weekend's task is to move the unnecessary furniture out of this room and list these items on Gumtree.

Next up, I’d love to have a more organised home. I want to sort through our filing cabinet and remove old and unnecessary paperwork. I want anyone to be able to easily locate a document they’re after without having to hunt through file after file. The 'clutter basket' on my bench is once again overflowing so I need to go through it and put everything in its proper place.

I’d also like our cupboards to be sorted. I don’t want to be hanging onto any items we no longer need or want that are taking up precious space. I am by no means a hoarder at all, but I’d still like to have a good sort through. I’ve already started this by going through my wardrobe and giving away a whole bunch of clothes to my sister and to charity. Today’s task is to sort through the linen cupboard. To help me stay on task, I promise to share a photo of this newly organised space once I’m done although I'm not sure how much I'll achieve today as Grace came down with a cold last night and we're all pretty exhausted today... we'll see.

Which organising project are you eager to accomplish on your ‘to do list?

Cooking Club: Winter Warmers

2011-06-22T15:34:00.004+08:00

On Saturday night, my friends and I had our latest Cooking Club dinner. This time, we had a full table of six (seven including six week old baby Lucas). Our theme was 'Winter Warmers' and we all came away with a collection of delicious recipes perfect for the current cold nights. I remembered to take photos although they all have a golden glow to them as I couldn't suss out the lighting and camera settings.

To decorate the table, I used a piece of grey and white striped fabric as a runner (I had actually bought this fabric for our nursery). I didn't use any fresh flowers this time but instead placed a pot of parsley in the centre of the table and made some origami flowers using some pretty double sided gift wrap I bought from Kikki K. One roll provided plenty of paper for five of these flowers as well as enough to wrap my 'spot prize'. I actually had fun putting these together one night in front of the television. You can find the tutorial for making these cute flowers here. I followed the instructions exactly only I didn't use glue but instead tried double sided tape which I think is definitely a better option. It's funny because this week after my dinner party, I was flicking through the latest Real Living magazine and actually spotted these exact origami flowers which had been made into a ball.

To break away from my usual white and silver edged Maxwell and Williams crockery, I borrowed my friend's pretty Marie Claire side plates which fit in perfectly. I also made some labels for each dish using a printable Martha Stewart template you can find here (there are also other colour options you can choose from).

My traditional spot prize for one of my guests this time was the parsley plant, a handy measuring glass from Wheel and Barrow and a jar of vanilla bean paste.

As for the yummy dishes we shared, our menu consisted of:

- Zucchini and Prosciutto Soup
- Spiced Pumpkin and Coconut Soup
- Chicken and Mushroom Pie
- Sweet Potato and Pancetta Risotto
- Crumbed Scotch Fillet
- Moroccan Beef
- Chocolate Orange Croissant Bread and Butter Pudding

I've shared the two soup recipes below, but if anyone is interested in the other recipes, let me know and I'll do another post.

For our next theme in August, we are going to break away from dinner recipes and have an afternoon tea instead with 'Teatime Treats' of cakes, biscuits and slices. I'm looking forward to decorating the table prettily and have already got a few ideas floating around in my head.

Here's those soup recipes for anyone who would like to try them out...

Spiced Pumpkin and Coconut Soup

1 tbsp red curry paste
1kg pumpkin, peeled and chopped
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1½ cups coconut milk
1 large red chilli, seeded and finely sliced

Place a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the curry paste and cook for one minute. Add the pumpkin and stock, cover and cook until the pumpkin is tender. Place the pumpkin mixture in a blender and blend until smooth. Return the soup to the saucepan. Add the coconut milk and heat through. Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with the chilli to serve.

Zucchini and Prosciutto Soup

1 tbsp olive oil
1 brown onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
100g prosciutto, chopped
1 tsp thyme leaves
3 zucchini, grated
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
feta cheese, crumbled (to serve)

Heat a large saucepan over medium high heat. Add the oil, onion, garlic, prosciutto and thyme and cook for 4-5 minutes or until the onion is softened. Add the zucchini, stock, salt and pepper and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 10-15minutes or until the zucchini is cooked. Use a hand held blender to partially blend the soup, leaving some texture. Ladle soup into bowls and top with crumbled feta.

A Happy Week

2011-06-20T13:50:00.004+08:00

Although Grace and I did nothing overly exciting, last week was a really good week and my happy mood has extended into this one too. Here’s an assortment of things that have been making me smile and some things I'm looking forward to…

… the two bunches of flowers Grace and I bought this morning from the Beaufort Street flower sellers. We went for a drive north of the river to buy a cushion from Domayne and made a detour to buy a cheap bunch on the way home. They add a touch of colour around the house and make me smile when I walk past them.

… our Rinnai flame effect gas heater (in the background of the above photo). Last year, we spent the majority of winter without a heater when our very old one died. Getting a new one wasn’t all that straightforward but thankfully this year, ours has been working a treat. It’s so lovely having the 'flames' glowing away at night.

... our beautiful bright pink camellia which is flowering in our backyard (although most of the pretty blooms fell to the ground in last week’s heavy rain). The photo above is the view I see from our kitchen windows each time I look out (if only those hideous palm trees weren't in the yard next door!) It’s so nice to have colour in the garden. Even the fallen petals on the ground are pretty.

…having a hair appointment on Wednesday. I’m looking forward to a bit of 'me' time, relaxing at the hair dressers with some magazines and a cup of tea and coming out feeling great. I love my wavy hair but I always get my hair straightened for something different when I go to the hair dressers.

… finally finding the perfect fabrics for the quilt I’m making Grace. I've decided not to go with pastel colours after all, but am using more vibrant, pretty prints. After much hunting, I stumbled across some great material at a few local quilting stores and Spotlight, along with some gorgeous pieces I’ve ordered from Etsy. Can’t wait for those packages to arrive and can’t wait to get stuck into sewing!

… being given a huge box of hand me down clothes for Grace from Paul’s cousin whose little girls had outgrown them. Grace thought it was Christmas and has been ‘playing dress ups’ all week as I slowly sort through what fits and what doesn’t. I used to be so excited as a little girl when my cousin passed her old clothes down to me.

…my growing baby bump. The picture above is the blurriest shot ever but at least it shows you my belly (it’s very hard to take a photo of yourself I’ve discovered!!). At 23 weeks, I’m getting lots of prods these days and I love lying in bed at night feeling our baby kicking away. The fact that we’ve only got 17 weeks left is a bit scary though!!

... curling up on the couch tonight with my cuppa in hand and a piece or two of the chocolate fudge I made purely as an indulgent treat for myself. I'm looking forward to watching Katrina on The Block and then flicking through the latest Real Living magazine.

I hope you all have a happy week ahead too. What are you looking forward to?

Artwork In Our Home

2011-06-17T07:34:00.007+08:00

I read somewhere recently that you can tell a lot about a person by the types of artwork displayed in their home. That’s a bit unfortunate for us as we still have several bare walls yet to be filled. However, the artworks we have bought so far are all pieces we love. Today I thought I’d share with you some of my favourite art from around our home.

The canvas in our bedroom was actually a Christmas present one year from Paul. It is by Kanvas, a West Australian company based in Subiaco with a range of great designs and I had been eyeing this particular piece off for some time when I first discovered their website. With some help from one of my best friends, Paul managed to buy (and keep secret) exactly the canvas I had been admiring. It fits in well with the feel of our bedroom.

In our entryway is a signed print by artist Helen Norton. We purchased it from Helen’s old gallery (Cockatoo Gallery) in Fremantle which unfortunately no longer exists, although Helen’s pieces can still be purchased from other sources. We loved her quirky style of art and finally settled on the print above titled ‘Sniffing Dogs’. You can see more of Helen’s artwork here.

In our lounge is a small original oil painting we bought from ‘The Old Butter Factory’ in Denmark on our last visit. It is actually a scene from Albany and for its size wasn’t cheap, but we loved its colours and subject matter. Its title is ‘Come Walk With Me’ and it is by Lois Drygan.

Two small pieces I purchased from Etsy are by print gocco artist Bernadette Sipkes of Sugarloop. When I first discovered Sugarloop, I fell in love with Bernadette’s simple designs with their almost folk-like feel. A gold owl print now sits next to our computer and a green bird print is on the wall directly outside our study.

Finally, our kitchen / living area is home to three of our favourite artworks. Above my tea and coffee station on top of our kitchen bench is a canvas we purchased on our last trip to Sydney. It is a view from the Sydney Harbour Bridge and has an almost fishbowl effect to the way it has been painted. It’s fun trying to pick out famous Sydney locations like Bondi Beach or the SCG while the kettle is boiling.

On the opposite end of our kitchen bench are two prints by Sue Miller which we bought in Salamanca when we visited Hobart. The left piece is called 'Boats On The Derwent' and the other 'Emmalisa Off Battery Point'. The image on the right is particularly meaningful to us as we had a cruise on the exact ‘Emmalisa’ paddle steamer in the scene. We had these professionally framed once we were back home.

So there you have a snapshot into some of our artwork. I’m not sure what these pieces say exactly about Paul and I, but they are all part of our ‘story’ we have built since we moved into our home over six years ago. I’ve spent a lot of time this week researching galleries around Fremantle and Perth that I can drag Paul along to so we can hopefully finally fill our bare walls. We’ll also check out the galleries down south when we go on a little holiday later in the year.

Do you have a favourite piece of art in your home? I’d love to hear about it.

Delicious Potato and Leek Soup

2011-06-15T08:06:00.007+08:00

Image above via Ooh, Look... Food and Craft

I love making Potato and Leek soup, not only because it is hearty and warming (perfect for wintery nights), it’s super simple to make. I have always used a very basic recipe but when the June issue of Real Living magazine came out a few weeks ago, I decided to give their version a try.

The use of celery, garlic and vegetable stock (as opposed to chicken) appears to make a difference. However the definite magic ingredient for me was fresh thyme leaves. Fortunately this is one of the plants in my herb garden that has taken off so I had plenty to add to the pot.

If you’re after a delicious soup to try one wintery evening, be sure to give this one a go. I’ve written out the recipe below for those of you who don’t have the magazine. On the subject of cooking winter dishes, this coming Saturday is our next Cooking Club and our theme is ‘Winter Warmers’. I promise I will make it my priority this time to take photos and will be sure to share with you all any yummy recipes I gather. Stay tuned…

Potato and Leek Soup

50g butter
2 leeks, trimmed, washed and sliced
2 celery stalks, chopped roughly
3 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1 garlic clove, minced
1.2kg potatoes, peeled and chopped into small pieces
1L vegetable stock
2 cups water
sea salt
cracked black pepper
¾ cup cream, plus extra to drizzle

Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Add leeks, celery and thyme. Cook for 10 mins until leeks and celery are tender but not coloured. Add garlic and cook for a further 2 mins.

Add potatoes, stock and water to saucepan. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Increase heat to high and boil for about 15 to 20 mins until potatoes are very tender. Skim any scum that rises to surface and discard.

Use blender or food processor to puree soup in batches until smooth. Return blended soup to saucepan. Over medium heat, add cream and stir. Gently heat through.

Drizzle with extra cream and cracked black pepper to serve.

(Serves 4)

Putting Off Projects

2011-06-13T08:11:00.005+08:00

It’s taken me a long while to realise this fact but I’ve finally accepted that my house will most likely never reach the fairytale ‘perfect’ standard I hoped to achieve ‘one day’. Too often, I put off projects I am keen to get stuck into because I think that our house isn’t clean enough to allow myself the pleasure of indulging in crafty activities as there are more important things I should be spending my time on. I’ll often tell myself that when ‘everything is done’, I’ll begin sewing that top for Grace or learning how to crochet.

The day that my sink is empty (and shining), all the washing and ironing done, the floors mopped, the carpets vacuumed, my bathrooms scrubbed and the house tidy is always going to be a long way off. It’s not that such a target is necessarily unachievable, it’s more that there will always be something to clean, something to sort through or some chore that could be done as well as lots of other responsibilities that go with being a stay at home Mum to a toddler.

I’ve decided I’m going to try and dedicate more time to the many crafts and homely projects I’d like to try. There are so many ideas saved in my ‘to make’ inspiration folder that I am itching to start. To begin with I’d like to make the quilt I’m working on for Grace’s new bed and provided that goes okay, I’d like to start a quilt for our new baby. Crocheting is also something I’ve wanted to learn for a long time so armed with the guide and crochet hook Catherine sent me, I’d like to try and make a pretty scarf for Grace to wear this winter. Gift tags, some decorative pieces for Grace’s room and a cross stitch runner are also things I’m planning to make.

I’m interested who else out there has my problem and keeps putting off exciting new projects waiting for that magical day when they have nothing else important to do? Which projects are you keen to get started on?

Also, this week, Homely One is being featured over at The Decorating Forum. If you’re not a member already, be sure to head over and check it out. It’s a wonderful resource for all home and decorating topics and provides plenty of advice that you may need.

Enjoy your start to the week!

I must apologise as I have no idea where I originally found any of these images as I've had them in my folder for a very long time. If any of these images are yours, please let me know and I will be sure to give them proper credit.

On The Hunt For...

2011-06-11T09:45:00.005+08:00

For the past two weeks I've had intentions of visiting the local Sunday morning swap meet but things have popped up that have stopped me from going. Fingers crossed I can go for a browse tomorrow (if I can work up the motivation to head outdoors in the chilly morning weather). Paul has had a big day today so I'm sure if I sneak out with Grace, he'll appreciate the sleep in. There are a few things I’m on the hunt for at the moment, certain pieces to add touches of character to our place and to help create that homely feel. Here's some examples of treasures I'd love to find...

One thing I'd love to get for Grace's room is a little open shelf display similar to the one above. Young children always collect bits and pieces and I'd love something to be able to display all Grace's little trinkets and treasures on and where she could change little collections around as she pleases.

Next on my radar are some little glass bottles to use as vases. I often save old jars for this purpose but something cute like the bottle above would be lovely to put a single bloom in. I like to have small arrangements like this dotted in different spots around the house or on the table when I am entertaining.

A few weeks ago, Grace snuck into our pantry and broke my salt shaker. It was never really my style anyway so I wasn't overly fussed and now I have the excuse to look for some cute salt and pepper shakers. Mum has some tiny ones from my grandparent's house which I love. Hopefully I can find something similar one day.

Last up, I'm looking for old, decorative picture frames which I will possibly paint white. I love the detail in the one above and the way it is still a simple design.

Sometime in the next few months, we're planning a little holiday down south where I'm looking forward to browsing in the various country town antique shops so if I don't find something at the markets, fingers crossed they can be found on other travels.

What treasures do you mainly hunt for at second hand stores or flea markets?

If you wish to purchase any of the items above, you can visit their Etsy stores:

#1 dovetailvintage #2 AMradio #3 Midwest Finds #4 Maude and Lola #5 AMradio

Shades Of White

2011-06-09T14:39:00.007+08:00

Image from Country Living via Brabourne Farm

You know how when you write a word over and over and then you start to look at it in a strange way and wonder whether you’re actually spelling it correctly because you’ve seen it so many times? That’s a bit how I feel today with the colour white.

After five quotes, we’ve finally decided which company to go with for our blinds in the children’s bedrooms, study and laundry. The company we’re happiest with seems to have better quality fabrics (they apparently have a higher thread count) and they come with a five year warranty. In saying that however, choosing between two different shades of ‘white’ is making our final decision a bit difficult.

I’ve moved the samples from room to room and tried them in different lights but everywhere I look, the whites in our home are so varied, which is something I’d never noticed before. Our walls are not pure white, they are more of an antique white with a slight stony touch. Our skirting boards are pretty much a true white and are different once again to our doors and trims (although Paul tells me when he has holidays next, he’s planning on painting these more like our skirtings). Our Ikea kitchen cupboards appear to be more of an antique white, Grace’s bedroom furniture a bright white and the white picture frames around the house have more of an antique shade to them. Who knew whites could be so varied?

At the moment, I’m thinking of going with the more antique white textured blind fabric which will blend in best with the walls. I don’t want our blinds to be a feature but rather a continuation of the wall colour so I think I’m on the right track. In any case, the other sample has a slight lurex thread through it which I’m not overly keen on and I’m sure this would bug me on a larger scale piece of this fabric.

Hope you're all having a terrific Thursday. I'm off to look at those samples for one last time...

Take Two: The New Bed

2011-06-06T14:17:00.005+08:00

Photograph by Bob Smith via House to Home

You’re all going to think I’m totally crazy, but I’ve decided to sell the bed frame we bought for Grace. On Thursday night, we bought another ensemble base instead (lower than the one currently in our spare room) to go with our existing virtually new mattress. In hindsight, I think I was sucked in by the prettiness of the bed we recently bought and didn’t think about the practicalities of it or its design.

There were a few reasons for my change of heart. From a practical point of view, I decided that having a bed frame against the wall was going to make it very difficult for me to make the bed. I know many people have such beds against walls, but anything that makes my pregnant life easier these days is a positive in my books and the new ensemble base on wheels makes it super easy to tuck in blankets and sheets. The new base also has no hard edges so I have no fear of Grace hurting herself on the bed either when she sleeps or is running around in her room playing and being a good ten centimetres lower, if Grace does fall out of bed at night, it’s not of concern, especially with a few pillows placed on the floor.

From an aesthetical point of view, the ensemble bed option suits Grace’s room better. While I’ve always preferred the look of a bed base, our bedrooms are super small which means visually, it is important to minimise how imposing the furniture feels. I won’t have the effect of the carpet continuing under the bed, however the extra space we’ve gained is beneficial and most noticeably, the lack of a footboard makes the bedroom feel less ‘closed in’. When we got the pretty bed frame home, I also didn’t like the way the mattress wouldn’t sit nicely within the frame and kept sliding around. The visible slats under the mattress really bothered me.

So, those are the reasons I used to explain to Paul why I had completely changed my mind and gone down the ensemble bed path and why we now have not only our old ensemble base to sell, but also the pretty bed frame. Most importantly however, I feel at peace with my latest decision and Grace has been sleeping pretty well in her new bed since Friday night. Thank you all for the advice you gave me over my bed debacle.

Now it's time to decorate Grace's 'big girls room' and add some pretty touches like those in the image above. To satisfy my wish for a pretty bed, I am going to be on the lookout on Gumtree and Ebay for a nice headboard. For now that’s not a necessity but it will definitely finish off this corner of the room better. I am also in the planning stages of the patchwork quilt I am about to make which I will share with you as I make some progress.

Have you ever made a furniture purchase you later regretted?

Our Wintery Week In

2011-06-03T08:44:00.003+08:00

This week, we've had a lot of heavy rain. I haven't complained at all though as our garden is loving the extra soak it's been getting. It's fantastic for all the new plants we recently bought and put in.

Being stuck indoors a lot this week, Grace and I have had fun with various activities. We've played dress ups (I gave Grace my basket full of hats, scarves and handbags to play with while I sorted through my wardrobe), we have watched snails climbing up the window in the rain and we have done some baking. We have also been enjoying afternoon teas with mugs of Milo to 'warm our bellies.' One morning, when the showers stopped momentarily, we put on gumboots and went into the garden collecting leaves and flowers. Inside, we patted our finds dry with towelling paper and Grace arranged them all onto a piece of contact. Once finished, another piece of contact was placed on top of the flowers to create a 'flower picture'.

Today we've going out for a morning coffee and then we'll be spending the rest of the day at home. I've been a bit overwhelmed by the untidiness around our place this week but I've lacked the motivation to do anything about it. It's been a case of 'where do I start?' So this afternoon while Grace naps, I need to do a lot of cleaning up to get things back to an acceptable state.

This weekend is a long weekend in WA and I'm aiming for a little bit of 'me' time. I'm meeting my sister for breakfast tomorrow morning and then I have dinner planned with a friend on Sunday night. Hopefully I'll get a chance to check out fabric for Grace's quilt some time over the weekend too. Other than that, I'll just be pottering around the house. What about you - what are your weekend plans?

Nest Pretty Things

2011-06-01T14:08:00.006+08:00

Firstly, I want to thank all of you for your reassuring words on my last post regarding Grace's new bed. I appreciated you taking the time to share your own experiences and advice and you have given me some great ideas. I've decided to think about things for a week or two before I make any decisions. I'll let you know what happens...

Today I wanted to share with you a gorgeous Etsy shop I stumbled upon a little while back called Nest Pretty Things. Its owner Tamar creates a range of pretty pieces of jewellery, several of which I have my eye on. I love the way Tamar's pieces are packaged and presented and the way she styles her product shots. Here are some necklaces that I am particularly drawn to...

All photos by Tamar of Nest Pretty Things

The New Bed Disaster

2011-05-30T08:28:00.006+08:00

Last night was Grace's transition from cot to bed and it was a monumental disaster that I feel terrible about this morning. On Saturday, we had my cousin's wedding to attend and my mother-in-law was to babysit Grace while we were at the reception. We decided to wait until Sunday for the 'great bed change' so that my mother-in-law would still be able to use the mattress to sleep over. When we arrived home, Grace was sleeping soundly in her cot and I thought to myself how that would be her last time doing so and when she woke in the early hours of the morning (I presumed with teething pain), I actually enjoyed being able to sit in the nursing chair with her for one last time as I comforted her.

On Sunday, I was very eager to set up Grace's new bed so I could begin planning her quilt and the next stages of decorating her room. However, we decided to wait until after her afternoon nap. Paul put it together and it looked perfect once I'd put sheets and a blanket on it. "Like this bed," remarked Grace.

Last night as I tucked Grace under the covers, she appeared content and when we checked on her as we headed off to bed ourselves, she was in a deep sleep. Mission accomplished... or so I thought. Overnight, we had a lot of heavy rain and when I woke to the sound of it around ten thirty, I thought I'd sneak a peek at Grace. As soon as I quietly opened the door, she woke and this is where it all went pear-shaped.

Grace work crying uncontrollably. I tried everything I could to settle her to no avail. Paul was not impressed. He had an early start and a super busy day ahead at work. Why had we chosen tonight for this? Eventually, thinking Grace's pesky two-year old molars must be bothering her, I gave her some Bonjela and Panadol and with a combination of distraction and soothing techniques, she drifted off to sleep and I headed back to our bed around midnight.

Around two in the morning, I was woken by a loud bang and so was Grace. "Something just landed on our roof and has woken her," I grumbled to Paul as he headed down the hallway to Grace's room. Turns out, the loud bang was Grace falling out of bed and whacking her head on the metal frame. She was not a happy camper and as I switched places with Paul, I made the decision that I was wrong. Wrong to have tried out the great bed swap on a night when Paul had an early start and perhaps wrong even in my choice of bed. I dragged the cot back into Grace's room, made it up again (once Paul had moved the bed aside) and tucked Grace in. "Like the cot better," Grace said to me through her tears. She was asleep within minutes and didn't make a sound for the rest of the night.

I lay in bed until three this morning comforted by the rain and the fact that my little girl was sound asleep and that Paul too had drifted off, but I felt terrible and lay awake doubting all the decisions I had made regarding this fiasco. Maybe I should have taken my Mum's advice and started with the single bed mattress on the floor. Maybe I should have checked out the toddler rails my mother-in-law had pointed out in the Target catalogue. Maybe I should have converted Grace's cot into a toddler bed first. Maybe Paul was right and I've chosen a bed that is pretty but not practical for Grace when she is an absolute wriggler and squirmer in bed at night. Maybe I would now have to try and sell not only our super-high ensemble base but also the new bed frame and start again. Maybe a lower ensemble bed is the way to go after all. Maybe I'm rushing these changes considering our new baby will most likely sleep in a bassinette alongside our bed for several months.

Today I'm in a state of disarray and I felt so sorry this morning when Paul headed off to work having had little sleep. I know this change is going to have to happen sooner or later but I think I've stuffed up big time. With my growing belly though, getting Grace in and out of the cot is becoming increasingly uncomfortable.

I hope you all have a better start to your week than the one in our house this morning...

Drawn To Pink

2011-05-27T15:00:00.003+08:00

Image via French Knot

Since this time last year, I have been looking to make some changes to our living area to 'finish things off' in what has for too long been a half completed part of our home considering we spend most of our time there. With a grey and white base and some touches of blue, I had been deliberating over a final colour to add some contrast. For a while, I toyed with the idea of adding yellow. However, without any yellow elsewhere in this area, it didn't seem like the right choice.

Over the last week, turning to two prints we have hanging in this area, I found my answer... pink. I won't be going overboard and adding pink items everywhere, just a few subtle touches as the pink will be more of a 'surprise colour' in this room's colour scheme.

I never used to be a huge fan of the traditional girly pink shades. As a little girl, my room was decorated in apricot (not that I had any input into that) and my favourite colour was purple. In high school, this changed into a love of all things blue, a colour which made its way into our first home and is still one I am drawn to today.

However lately, I've developed an appreciation for pink. I've been admiring some soft pink pieces to add to Grace's white and yellow room, the flowers we bought recently to add some colour to our back garden are all shades of pink and I even bought a pale pink top recently on my shopping spree (a colour which I've never had in my wardrobe).

Which colour have you found yourself drawn towards lately?

Trying To Improve My Photography Skills

2011-05-25T14:43:00.004+08:00

I was looking back over my list of goals for 2011 this morning and while I have made progress in some areas, there are other items I am yet to work on. I am about three quarters of the way through Grace's album of baby photos and I have plans to learn to crochet (I would love to create a throw rug for the nursery) but I am yet to work on improving my photography skills.

Now that we have a DSLR, my photos should technically be better quality. However, I lack the knowledge about lighting and the way to use my camera in manual mode to achieve the perfect shot. I took the two photos on this post earlier in the week when I was playing around in the sunshine one morning with our camera, but I found I still had to adjust the lightness and darkness of them in a photo program afterwards.

I've decided over the next few weeks to actually sit down with the camera manual and see what I can learn. I also saw this book which I am tempted to order as it has some good reviews. Does anyone know of any good online resources for photography tips or can anyone recommend any good (and simple) photography books?

Grace's Nursery At Present

2011-05-23T13:52:00.005+08:00

We're in the process at the moment of making some changes to Grace's room to make it less of a nursery and more of a toddler's room so today I thought I'd share some photos of how it looks in its current state and explain my ideas of what we're going to do over the next few weeks. Not a lot has changed in here since I last posted photos apart from the new carpet, new white skirting boards and the previously dark wooden window sill and wardrobe door having been painted white. We added a little shelf from Ikea in the corner where the Poang chair is and from this I have hung some bunting I made. This has definitely finished off this corner better and now I just have to decide on a few final objects to display on top.

As for changes which are slowly taking place, the first is that we have bought Grace's 'big girls bed'. Paul picked it up today and it's lying in our hallyway at the moment ready to be assembled on the weekend. I'm hoping Grace will be able to sleep in it on Sunday night. I took the photo below in Harvey Norman the other day to give you a sneak peek of it, although the one below is a king single and we've just bought the single. Our mattress is also not quite as deep so the overall height of the bed is a bit less.

Next up are blinds and curtains. This decision is still driving me crazy! I have a few companies lined up to come and give me quotes this week as a few things have been pointed out to me which have led to yet another change in my decision. I won't go into details here, I'll leave that for another post, but the vertical blinds above will be going soon.

The Poang chair and the bedside table will be moving to the new nursery as will the chest of drawers which is currently used as a change table. With Grace almost toilet trained, I figure I can just change her nappy on the bed on the odd occasion I have to. We'll get her a new chest of drawers that perhaps aren't quite as deep as her bedroom is rather small and with the bed going in, I want to still give her as much space as possible. The area under the window is going to become a little play corner as we bought Grace a gorgeous wooden kitchen for her birthday which will fit perfectly here along with her toybox.

Above the cot (where the new bed will go), I have some more artwork planned and I would like to hang something girlie and pretty rather than the turtle (although Grace is quite fond of him). As for the bed itself, rather than a doona, to start with I'm going to attempt to make Grace a simple patchwork quilt for her bed. I'm thinking of sticking to pale pinks and yellow. I've never made one before so fingers crossed it won't be too tricky. Under the bed, I may get some baskets to use as extra hidden away storage. I also have my heart set on a pretty Moroccan leather pouffe I've seen for beside the bed - it would be perfect for Mummy or Daddy to perch on to read bedtime stories.

So that's where we're at and where things are headed in this room. I'll be sure to share some photos as things progress. As excited as I am to be redecorating this room, I must admit I feel a teensy bit sad to see Grace's baby things go. I can't believe how quickly little ones grow up.

Cooking Club: Easy Weeknight Meals

2011-05-19T14:02:00.002+08:00

Image via Gingerella

Just over a week ago was our second Cooking Club dinner with a theme of ‘Easy Weeknight Meals’. Once again, I forgot to take photos. I know I promised after forgetting to take pics at our last one that I’d remember this time, but after busily preparing not only my own dish for the evening but also decorating the dining room, it was easy to do once again. Third time lucky at our June one I promise!!

I was a little disappointed the week before our get together as I had two cancellations. One of our girls had her baby four weeks early so she was of course excused. Another forgot to okay the date and organise a babysitter. I had visions of my only recently established Cooking Club falling apart. However, after Saturday night I was reassured. A table of five was fine and with Krystie (and bub) hopefully joining us again next month, our group will be perfect. I’ve decided that six is easier to set the table for, gives you a good number of new dishes to taste and means that we can all take part in the one conversation around the table. I would definitely recommend to anyone thinking of trying something similar to stick to a group of around six.

Our last dinner saw us enjoy:

- Roast Vegetable Pasta
- Thai Chicken Patties
- Spaghetti and Meatballs
- Chicken Pilaff
- Garlic Roast Lamb Cutlets

This was followed by my Apple Crumble for dessert and some after-dinner mints which I wrapped in small packages and placed on everyone’s side plate.

Once again, we had a ‘spot prize’ which this time was a goodie bag of handy gadgets (a julienne peeler, a teabag ‘squeezer’ and a palette knife) plus two mini cookbooks.

Here is the recipe for one of the yummy recipes from the night which my sister-in-law made:

Garlic Roast Lamb Cutlets

12 cloves garlic, peeled
6 x 170g King Edward or roasting potatoes, sliced
4 small zucchinis, halved lengthwise
1 tbsp rosemary leaves
2 tbsp olive oil
sea salt and cracked black pepper
8 double lamb cutlets trimmed
1½ cups chopped mint leaves
1½ tbsp seeded mustard
2½ tbsp honey

Preheat oven to 220°C. Place the garlic, potatoes, zucchinis, rosemary, oil, salt and pepper in a baking dish, toss to combine and roast for 25 minutes. While the vegetables are cooking, heat a frying pan over high heat and brown the lamb on all sides. To make the mustard mint sauce, place the mint, mustard and honey in a bowl and mix to combine. Place the lamb of top of the vegetables. Brush with some of the mint sauce and roast for a further 8-10 minutes or until the lamb is golden and the potatoes are soft. To serve, place the lamb and vegetables on serving plates and top with the remaining mint sauce.

(Serves 4)

Grace’s Birthday Party

2011-05-17T14:07:00.005+08:00

For Grace’s birthday on Sunday, we had a small family morning tea to celebrate. Just a simple party with a few sweet dishes, a few savoury dishes and my attempts to make Grace a ladybird cake.

The cake was a success although the red and black icing were not fun to work with at all, especially the red which left stains on my white tablecloth which is still soaking in my laundry trough. I used the same cake recipe that I did for Grace’s First Birthday Party and once again, I made it a few days ahead, carefully wrapped it and froze it until the day of the party when it was defrosted and iced.

Grace had a ball running around the backyard with her cousins and received some great presents. Here are a few photos from the morning…

Gracie Girl Is Two Today!

2011-05-15T15:28:00.004+08:00

To our dear Grace,

It’s hard to believe how much you have grown over the past year and how much of a little girl you have become. You are so happy natured, fun loving, energetic, sweet and loving – such a joy to spend time with and we are so blessed you are part of our family.

One of the most noticeable things in recent months has been your ever-increasing vocabulary. You are such a chatterbox from the moment you wake until you hit the pillow at night. Sentences like “where’s the ladybird gone?” or “Daddy’s gone to work” are put together easily and make it easy to forget how little you still actually are. Another recent development has been your use of the potty. Nappies are almost a thing of the past (except for bedtime) and you are always so excited when you have used the potty correctly.

The thing that shines through most of all however is your character and personality. You have a cheeky streak and an advanced sense of humour but you are also a placid, well behaved little girl with a caring nature. You like to share most meals with your stuffed toys, are eager to help Mummy and Daddy with chores, will always say ‘sorry’ by yourself as soon as you realise you’ve done something wrong and you love ‘squeezy’ cuddles and kisses. Your manners are impeccable and phrases like ‘yes please Mummy’ and ‘no thanks Daddy’ are now second nature.

We are so proud of the sweet girl you have grown into and both love you with all our hearts.

Love from Mummy and Daddy xx

New Things Around Our Home

2011-05-11T14:31:00.007+08:00

We haven't really done a lot of renovating or decorating around our place recently. Between me not feeling as energetic as usual and most of our focus being on our outdoor project, my decorating enthusiam disappeared for a bit. However, in the last few weeks, I've been getting excited about homely projects again as we plan on making changes to Grace's room, have talked about perhaps renovating our main bathroom and as I begin picturing in my head how our new nursery will look.

So today I'm sharing with you a few smallish additions to our home I've made over the last week. In the top photo is the new front doormat I bought on the weekend. As we walked out of the house on Monday Grace remarked 'nice doormat'. Apparantly it's very hardwearing and can be 'hosed off' if it gets grubby.

Today I added the second little frame above to my laundry which is an Irish blessing I found on a Tumblr page. I still don't know if this the right spot for it but for now it fills in the space a bit. As for the ugly security screen, I'm hoping to sew a simple curtain to cover this window soon and hopefully my little pot plant will eventually grow bigger to hide the power point a bit more.

The bottom artwork in a simple Ikea frame I especially love. It is a sketch of a scene in Holland by my Pop who was a draughtsman by profession. I never met my Pop but I had a few of his sketches in my family tree file and thought it might be nice to frame one. I know my Dad would have loved to have seen this up on our wall.

How about you? Have you made and little additions to your home lately?

Mother's Day

2011-05-09T15:00:00.003+08:00

Photo above by Holly Becker of Haus Maus

I hope everyone enjoyed their Mother's Day yesterday. Mine was a wonderful one beginning with breakfast in bed snuggled up next to my Gracie girl with a cute card (complete with Grace's illustrations inside), a pretty bunch of flowers and a lovely gift from Kikki K to enjoy. We celebrated with Paul's Mum at morning tea and lunch was spent with my Mum.

However, the best part of my weekend was Grace coming up to me all the time saying 'lush you Mummy' (love you Mummy) all by herself and giving me endless kisses and cuddles. While she has parroted 'love you' back to me for a while now when I've said it to her, it has only really been this weekend she has started saying it by herself voluntarily and it was the best present I could have asked for.

I did hunt for some recent photos of Grace and I or my Mum and I to post, but I've discovered that I am often the one behind the camera and such photos are few and far between. This weekend is Grace's birthday so I'm going to put Paul in charge of photos and then hopefully, I'll have one to share with you all.

Time For A Big Bed

2011-05-04T14:23:00.006+08:00

Image above via House of Turquoise

On Saturday, we went hunting for a 'big girl's bed' for Grace. We feel that she will be ready soon for this change and then I won't have so much trouble lifting her into bed with my growing belly. I'd also like her out of her cot well before our next baby is due so she doesn't feel like she's been ousted from her cot.

We have a single bed in our spare room, but its ensemble base is far too high for our liking to be Grace's first time bed. We've been hunting for something lower, something not too imposing as her bedroom is quite small but something hopefully that will last her for some years to come. We looked at a few options from white wooden bed frames, to pretty wrought-iron look frames and lower ensemble bases. We saw a wooden one we like but it was still too high and the price was a bit steep.

So far, the main contender is a white wrought-iron style bed we've seen. I do like the look of these for a young girl's bedroom, especially when paired with other wooden furniture and room accessories as it helps avoid the 'matchy-matchy' look. Part of me also thinks that a closed in ensemble base might make the room appear smaller than a bed base where the carpet continuing underneath would be visible.

Any advice for choosing first-time beds or for decorating small bedrooms?

Picture Perfect

2011-05-02T15:40:00.007+08:00

As many fellow bloggers did on Friday, my evening was spent watching the Royal Wedding. I actually taped the coverage so I could wait until Grace was tucked into bed to sit down and watch the ceremony in peace and quiet. Over the weekend, I've enjoyed reading other bloggers' opinons on the big event and I too loved it all, especially Kate's exquisite gown and her sister's elegant bridesmaid dress. I thought the 'Picture Perfect' headline in yesterday's Sunday Times summed the wedding up well.

After reading Nicole's post this morning on the wedding where she shared some reflections on her own wedding gown and how she came to choose it, I decided to join in the wedding gown fun too...

Six years ago when I was shopping for my wedding dress, I had something very specific in mind - white, thin straps and quite simple without a train. I tried on several dresses but nothing seemed to stand out. When the sales assistant handed me what was to be the dress I would end up buying, I almost dismissed it immediately as it was nothing like the dress I had pictured - it was ivory, strapless, had a train and was covered in traditional style lace. With nothing to lose, I decided to try it on anyway. The moment it was on, I knew it was my dress.

I still kept things rather simple with a finely edged fingertip length veil, my hair natural and wavy as I usually wear it and just a simple pretty necklace and pearl bracelet. Here's a few photos...

Where Has The Week Gone?

2011-04-27T13:52:00.003+08:00

I can't believe it's be so long since I last posted. After thinking Grace was on the mend the last time I wrote, we ended up having a horrendous week with us all being unwell. Fortunately we were back to ourselves in time for Easter so we could get stuck into some yummy chocolate.

As for Easter itself, apart from a roast dinner at Mum's on Easter Sunday, ours was relatively quiet. The main thing we accomplished over the Easter break was doing lots of gardening in our backyard. Lots of plants we had transferred had shrivelled due to the scorching hot weather Perth had over the past few months so we were on the hunt for things to replace those as well as lots of low height bushes and 'filling in plants'. Grace was very eager to help water in all our new plants and enjoyed plodding around in her new pink gumboots that you can see in the photo above. Our gardening was perfectly timed as over the last few days, we've had a few lovely showers of rain.

To top off our Easter break, I had a wonderful day yesterday in the city yesterday shopping with a friend while Paul minded Grace. We both scored some bargains and I was especially excited to now have some 'stretchy' clothes to accomodate my growing belly. I found a wonderful longer length top in Witchery which is the ideal material for anyone who is pregnant, a singlet for layering from Country Road, a pretty pale pink ruffly top from Kookai, some flat boots that I plan on living in during winter and some wonderful maternity jeans from Jeans West (I had no idea they did maternity jeans until my friend said so and what a bargain they were at only $70 compared with usual priced maternity jeans).

Now I'm off to catch up on everyone else's posts to see what you've all got up to over the Easter period (with a compulsary cuppa and some Easter eggs nearby of course!)

Comfy Beds

2011-04-18T09:21:00.004+08:00

Image found via Two Little Dicky Birds

This past weekend has been one of little sleep in our household as Grace came down with a tummy bug. It was actually our 6th wedding anniversary on Saturday but as Paul was away on Friday and not back until Saturday night, we decided to wait until another weekend to go out to tea and celebrate. Lucky, because Saturday night was when Grace came down sick.

Anyway, having spent time trying to settle Grace and sleep on the couch and on the floor in her bedroom, it has made me appreciate my comfortable mattress all the more and it got me thinking about how our beds are such a source of comfort. I guess it's the same for little ones as even when I tried to bring Grace to our bed to cuddle her and settle her, she kept saying 'Gracie's bed' and pointed down the hallway to her room.

My side of our bed means I get out on the left hand side and if I sleep anywhere where this isn't possible, I find I sleep less well. As I lay away on the couch at goodness knows what hour the other night I was wondering, what happens when a couple move in together and both have a preference for the same side of the bed?

Although a bit lethargic and still with little appetite, Grace appeared much better yesterday and hopefully will pick up even more today. As for our week leading up to Easter, I think we'll take it easy and just lay low. Maybe it will be a good chance to do some Easter craft together.

Hope you all have a great start to the week...

An Afternoon Snack

2011-04-13T15:49:00.004+08:00

Today I wanted to share a recipe I tried out yesterday afternoon with you all. I found it over at Jade's blog and thought it sounded like a healthier teatime treat to indulge in. It was very easy to make and according to Jade, can also be frozen. I did find that the slice was quite soft when I initially took it out of the oven but it firmed up once cool (a bit like Anzac biscuits). Here's Jade's recipe...

Muesli Slice

125g butter
⅓ cup sugar
2 tbspn honey
1 cup rolled oats
½ desiccated coconut
½ cup dried apricots
½ cup sultanas
½ cup self raising flour

Stir butter, sugar and honey in a large saucepan over medium heat, without boiling until the sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and stir in the remaining ingredients. Press the mixture firmly into a 20x30cm pan. Bake for approx 20 minutes in a medium oven. If you take it out of the oven and it seems too crumbly pop back into the oven for another 5 minutes or so.

Do you have any similar 'healthy' recipes for morning or afternoon tea snacks?

Partied Out

2011-04-11T13:47:00.005+08:00

Hello everyone! Thank you all so much for your messages of congratulations for us expecting another baby. All your kind words, well wishes and prayers mean so very much.

On Saturday, we had a day of birthday parties with my twin nephews' 2nd birthday party on Saturday morning and a 30th on Saturday night. My nephews' party was held at a park overlooking the river in Bicton and the cooler weather made for a lovely morning outdoors. The party had a 'frog theme' and my sister-in-law did a wonderful job of planning things. Grace had a ball and wouldn't take off her party hat until we got home. She also loved her frog mask (until she realised it made it a bit hard to eat birthday cake!)

What did you get up to over the weekend?

We're Having Another Baby...

2011-04-05T19:11:00.006+08:00

Image source unknown

Update: Photo by Nicole Carman Photography

Thanks all for your get well wishes – we’re all pretty much back to normal in our little household and Grace has finished her antibiotics for her ear infection (what a challenge getting her to take medicine was!!)

Anyway, I’m glad I’m back to blogging today as I have been wanting to share something with you all on this date for some time now and finally this date is here… Paul and I are expecting another baby. We had our 12 week scan today and all is good so we’re finally letting people know our exciting news.

Falling pregnant for us was not straightforward so we are all the more excited. Back before Grace was born and after a long time of trying to have a baby, we went through many tests, the only thing showing up being that I had endometriosis (although there was no guarantee this was what was stopping us falling pregnant). After such a long time trying, we decided to go straight to IVF. We were extremely lucky as it was on the second attempt that I fell pregnant with Grace. However, going through IVF was challenging and I was lucky that I had such a supportive husband to help me be strong through it all. This time around our story was pretty much identical, although miraculously I fell pregnant after just our first round of IVF.

Our baby’s due date is the 18th October, a date which I’m sure will be here before we know it. I’ll look forward to sharing the months leading up to our baby’s arrival with you all. In the meantime, please excuse me not blogging as often as usual, I’ve been extremely exhausted in this first trimester but am hoping my energy levels will pick up soon.

Week Off

2011-03-28T17:48:00.002+08:00

Sorry I haven't blogged that much over the last week. Grace has been unwell as she came down with a cold which has developed into an ear infection and to top it off, Paul and I now have her nasty cold too. So I've decided to take this week off to look after my little possum as well as myself and to try and catch up on things around here.

I promise to be back to blogging as normal after the weekend. Enjoy your week everyone...

On My Table

2011-03-23T13:49:00.004+08:00

On Friday night, one of my best friends Kylie gave me a belated birthday present which I absolutely love. It is a gorgeous Willow pattern teacup and saucer which has been recycled into a soy candle and it smells absolutely divine. It has found its new home on our kitchen table along with some flowers still going strong from the other night.

I love that this candle has been fashioned from something someone no longer wanted or needed. It's wonderful that people can find creative uses to reuse old bits and pieces. Do you own something that has been 'recycled' in a similar way or been adapted to find a new use?

Our First Cooking Club

2011-03-21T14:28:00.003+08:00

Happy Monday! I hope you've all had a nice relaxing weekend just like we did. On Friday night, my friends and I had our very first Cooking Club get together. Unfortunately, we were having such a good time tasting all the yummy food and chatting away, that I forgot to take any photos (next time I promise!!) so all I have are a few shots of the table before everyone arrived.

It was a smaller group than usual for our first meet up as two girls couldn't make it, but it was still an enjoyable night. I organized a little 'surprise gift' for one of my guests (the latest Good Food magazine and a sample pack of goodies that came with it) who I chose by placing a sticker randomly under one of the side plates on the table. The person who sat in this spot received the prize.

As for food, half of us made salads and half made desserts. I also put some roast beef on in the slow cooker to go with our salads. Our menu consisted of:

Pumpkin and Spinach Salad
Broccoli Salad

Raspberry Bread and Butter Pudding
Easy Tiramisu
Turkish Delight Rocky Road

We have decided to hold our Cooking Clubs every month and a half. For next time, I would like to try making a special drink to serve my guests and would like to spend some more time on decorations and making the table extra pretty. Ideas for future themes we discussed were easy weeknight meals, winter warmers, morning tea treats, an international night and Christmas goodies.

Overall it was a fun night and it was great to taste the dishes and to come away with several new recipes to add to my recipe folder, several of which I'm dying to make again.

Time For A New Recipe

2011-03-16T20:48:00.004+08:00

It's been a little while since I've shared a new recipe with you all so today I thought I'd post one I've been making a fair bit recently. It's from a Donna Hay magazine and was given to me by my sister-in-law. Unfortunately, I haven't managed to take a photo on the numerous times I've made this dish as it's always been gobbled up very quickly but take my word for it, served with some fresh bread, this is a great salad for a quick, light meal that can be prepared ahead.

Chicken Nicoise Salad

2L chicken stock
4 chicken breasts
250g green beans (sliced lengthways)
⅓ cup kalamata olives (pitted)
150g baby Roma tomatoes (halved)
70g rocket (I also add some baby spinach)
4 hard boiled eggs (halved or quartered)
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp wholegrain mustard
⅓ cup olive oil

Combine the garlic, lemon juice, mustard and oil and set aside. Heat the stock on high and bring to the boil. Turn the heat to low and add the chicken for 14 mins. Add beans for another few minutes until the chicken is cooked through and the beans tender. Cool chicken and shred. Put in a bowl with remaining ingredients and drizzle over dressing.

(Serves 4)

Image above from Donna Hay website

Tub and Bubble Fun

2011-03-14T14:05:00.003+08:00

We had a fairly busy weekend just gone which is unusual for us. On Saturday it was my sister's birthday and we had a barbecue/picnic lunch down by the beach. At night, Paul and I headed into the city for a birthday dinner while my Mum minded Grace. By the next day we were exhausted. One function a day seems to be all I can handle these days.

On Sunday, Paul was working away trying to level sand and dig reticulation trenches in the soon to be 'Grace's Corner' of our backyard. I had to spend some time online renewing my Western Australian College of Teaching membership (what a painful process!) and so Grace was happy playing in the sand watching Paul. When I finally came out to see what they were both up to, Grace was filthy and covered in dirt so we filled up her outdoor toy tub with warm water and bubble bath and she spent a good half hour in there splashing around and having fun.

As for the week ahead, my first Cooking Club with my friends is this Friday night which I am really looking forward to. What are you looking forward to this week?

Sculptures By The Sea

2011-03-09T13:46:00.005+08:00

Over the long weekend, we went and had a look at the Sculptures By The Sea on exhibition at Cottesloe Beach. There were some interesting sculptures, some clever and some a bit weird but it was fun wandering around checking them out.

My favourite was the 'sea' of paper boats. The last one below in front of the Indiana Teahouse is apparently worth over half a million dollars. Here are a few I managed to snap photos of...

Happy Birthday To Me...

2011-03-07T15:35:00.002+08:00

This past weekend in Western Australia has been a long weekend which is lucky for me because Saturday was also my birthday. I received some lovely presents including a few things I've had on my wishlist for a while now like some windchimes (to hang on our patio) and a small thermos (to take with me on picnics with Grace).

Not being a 'special birthday year' (that's next year for me), I just wanted to do something simple so we went for breakfast along with some family members at my latest favourite spot in Fremantle. In the evening, the three of us got a yummy pizza and took it to Kings Park to enjoy.

I hope you have all had a wonderful weekend too...

Making Me Smile...

2011-03-04T14:48:00.004+08:00

One of Grace's favourite things to do is play in the family boat with Daddy. I love this photo I snapped of the two of them in the driveway waving to people walking their dogs along the footpath and to cars that were passing. Yesterday evening, Grace was in there 'cleaning' with a dusting rag while Paul was vacuuming. Very cute.

What has made you smile this week?

Back After A Break

2011-03-02T13:46:00.004+08:00

Image via Ada and Darcy

I must apologise for disappearing from blogland over the past week. I haven't quite felt 100% and just needed to rest and have some time out. The terrible heat we've been experiencing hasn't helped much either as our study is the only room without an airconditioning vent and I couldn't bear sweltering in front of the computer. Perth has had virtually a fortnight of days over 35 degrees - I am longing for some autumn weather now that we're into March.

Anyway, I'm in a chirpier mood today and hope to be back to blogging as usual by the end of the week...

Encouragement

2011-02-23T15:36:00.005+08:00

Photos by Chelsea Fuss of Frolic for Project Wedding

A little while back I read Jessica Watson’s book ‘True Spirit’ and in it I stumbled upon a quote by Irish poet and philosopher John O’Donohue which stood out to me and which I wanted to share with you all:

"One of the most beautiful gifts in the world is the gift of encouragement. When someone encourages you, that person helps you over a threshold you might otherwise never have crossed on your own."

I think this is very true of blogging and one of the reasons why being a part of a blogging community is such a wonderful thing. When I share something on a post and I read comments readers have left, it not only warms my heart that they have taken the time to leave a few words, I really appreciate their feedback and opinions and the encouragement they offer.

I think it’s important that we encourage each other – encourage others to share their knowledge and expertise, encourage others to try something new like a recipe for a new dish or a new craft project or encourage others to be the best we can be in our daily lives as wives/partners, mothers, friends and so on.

Thank you all for encouraging me so very much through your comments and through your own blogs which are constant sources of inspiration.

My Tea Rituals

2011-02-21T14:32:00.004+08:00

Image from Just Be SpLendid

My husband Paul isn’t a tea drinker and so the concept of teacups and saucers is completely foreign to him. “What purpose did this little plate serve?” he asked me the other night while stacking the dishwasher. To which I replied, “It just looked pretty.”

Whilst I will appreciate any cup of tea someone makes for me, there are certain things I am quite specific about when I make it myself.

In the morning, I start with green tea. I make it in either the cute tulip mug I got from my Nanna’s house, the Holly Hobby mug I still have from when I was a little girl or the Cath Kidston mug my Mum recently brought me back from the UK. I’m not fussed as to which brand of green tea I drink. This cup is usually drunk on the go while checking emails, making Grace breakfast or doing some morning chores.

Image from Her Library Adventures

Morning tea and afternoon tea is a cup of English Breakfast which I have white and when I make it myself, I have it in a tea cup and saucer. I usually buy the brand Madura (which has a slightly lower caffeine content) but I do like Twinings too. A sweet treat like a biscuit or piece of slice accompanies these cups of tea and I like them to be hot (not that I drink them hot but I like to make them last). These two cups are my ‘down time’ in the day. The morning one I usually enjoy while Grace has a morning tea snack or while she is playing. My afternoon cup is always during Grace’s nap time when I spent a bit of time at the computer blogging and reading blogs.

At night, I will have either a Milo or a herbal tea (rosehip or lemongrass and ginger or my latest favourite – strawberry, cranberry and raspberry) and once again, I have this cuppa in a mug. This final drink is enjoyed curled up on the couch watching television or reading a book.

Which hot drink do you prefer and are you picky as to how it is made or served? Do you have a favourite cup or mug? I was thinking the other day how many people these days have their own coffee machines to try and replicate a ‘café quality’ at home. Not being a coffee drinker, if you visit my place, I’m sorry to say it will be an instant coffee I will have to offer you… it will be made with love though…