Dreaming Of A Holiday…

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

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

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

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

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?