A Few Bits To Share

After our little holiday down south, the rest of last week was spent with 'what will we do today?' type days, the kind where you wake up with no particular plans and see where the day takes you. Not only was it nice to have Paul around the house during the time he was off from work, but we also managed to get some jobs crossed off our long running 'to-do list' which was very satisfying.

One item on my list for Paul (which was actually ticked off on the weekend before he began holidays but which I had yet to share with you all) was to hang some decorative plates in our kitchen. Thanks to some pestering on my part, the blue and white trio above now fills up a patch of wall which has been bare since we bought our house. A two dollar op-shop saucer and a vintage Swedish side-plate I bought off Etsy (which matches the tea cup and saucer I purchased a while back) fit in nicely next to the Villeroy and Bosch dinner plate I bought as a Christmas present to myself last year.

A trip to Ikea was another 'to-do' we managed to complete.  After returning home from our holiday to Denmark last week, I managed to persuade Paul to come to Ikea to check out a chest of drawers I was interested in.  They turned out to be perfect for what we were after and have made me happy every time I've walked into our bedroom since the weekend.  We now have SO much extra storage with such big, deep drawer space.  Now I just need to decide what to display on top...

Our First Holiday As A Family Of Four

Last week, as I spent what felt like forever packing all of our bags to take with us, my enthusiasm for our family holiday was seriously lacking, despite us having looked forward to this one for months. Sophie had been up most of the night before (I was assuming with teething pain) and as I battled to keep my eyes open the following day, I had visions of our idyllic break turning pear-shaped. In the end, I was glad we got away though.  It was refreshing to have a change of scenery and lovely to spend some quality time together.  Grace especially had such fun down south, channelling her inner Dr Doolittle as she 'talked' to all the farm animals, stomped through creeks in her gum boots and looked out for kangaroos in the paddocks.  Seeing the smile on her face each day as we set out on various adventures was priceless.

I've posted before about our family holidays to Denmark.  It's our little 'home away from home' and has even  more meaning for Paul who lived there for several years as a young boy.  Each time, as we drive into town along the scenic country roads lined by breathtaking forests and lush green paddocks, I feel a wave of serenity wash over me.  I love re-visiting our favourite spots, finding new places to explore and soaking in all the fresh air and beauty in the surrounding landscape.  It truly is a magical spot.

This time, seeing as our family had grown by one and our needs were a bit different, we chose to stay in self-contained accommodation at Kangaroo Valley Cottage.  It was perfect - the picturesque views, the warmth of the log fire, the country kitchen and the surrounding farm animals and wildlife have made this a place we are definitely keen to return to again next year.

During our stay, we returned to Grace's beloved animal farm where she once again was in her element feeding, patting and cuddling all the animals.  We also let her bring along her money box which she'd been filling over time and allowed her to spend the money she had saved on something of her choice.  Another morning, we took a drive to Albany where we had Devonshire tea at Emu Point Cafe and the following day, we stopped for a drink and play at the Boston Brewery at Willoughby Park Winery.

After time away though, I always love returning to the comforts and convenience of home which make our simple days and routines so much easier.  For the remainder of this week while Paul has still had time off, we've gotten back into the swing of our simple daily rhythm, completed a few odd jobs around the house and even managed a visit to Ikea.  It's been wonderful waking up every day this week feeling like it's the weekend.  I'll be sad when Monday rolls around...




Edited on 31st August 2012: This post was featured in the August 2012 edition of The Post Of The Month Club

Book Prize Winner

Hello all!  Sorry I've not posted as regularly as usual.  We've been down south since Saturday on a long awaited family holiday in our favourite little town, Denmark, as Paul has this week off work. However, we're back home now (and with Internet access again) so once I attempt to make a dent in the mammoth pile of washing currently sitting on our laundry floor (the worst part about returning home after time away), I'll be back with a few photos of where we stayed and what we got up to.

In the meantime, I wanted to thank everyone who took the time to comment on my last post.  I appreciated your feedback SO much and found it helpful to hear what you liked, to read the suggestions you gave and to come away even more motivated to make a few small changes here. One of the things that pleased me the most was hearing that this space was very 'me' and that my sharing snippets of daily life around here doesn't bore you all too much.  It was also great to have some new faces introduce themselves as it's always nice to know who's reading my posts.

You'll have to bare with me as I slowly try to spruce things up and work on a new blog banner for this space.  Changes will have to be done bit by bit during my 'precious time' while Sophie naps so it may look a bit hotch potch here while I'm in the process of my bloggy makeover.

As for my book prize (which I've since realised was an appropriate prize to give away seeing as this week is Book Week here in Australia), I popped all the names of those who were kind enough to leave me some feedback into a bowl and gave Grace the honour of choosing the winner who was...

I'll be in touch with you soon Belinda to find out which book you'd like... Now it's time to stop procrastinating and to sort out some washing...

Can I Ask A Favour?

In a few months’ time, I will have been blogging for three years.  Over this time I’ve found the focus of my blog has shifted somewhat, I’ve lost followers and gained others (hello by the way to any newbies) and I’ve settled comfortably into my cosy little corner of blogland. 

I’ve been thinking a bit about this blog of mine lately, re-reading my notes from Holly’s blogging course that I took last year along with Tara Frey’s book ‘Blogging For Bliss’ and I’m planning a wee bit of a makeover for this space.  This will be a long-overdue spruce-up which I remember was initially on my to-do list in the final weeks before I had Sophie and which still has not eventuated. 

I’m wondering if you can possibly all do me a favour and give me a teensy bit of feedback on how things are here visually and the topics I post about.  I’d like to learn more about my followers, to fix any issues that may pose themselves and to keep things interesting here in the way of content.  

To keep it simple for myself and you, I’ve limited this 'favour' to three brief questions…

1.      Who are you?  If you’re not already a follower who I’m familiar with, if you’ve never commented before, I’d love for you to introduce yourself.  Where are you from?  How long have you been reading Homely One? 

2.      Which topics do you like reading about here?  Recipes?  Crafty projects?  Parenting/babies?  Random snippets of daily life?  Decorating/renovations?  Is there a topic you want to read more about?

3.      And finally how easy do you find it to navigate around my blog visually?  Am I missing something that would make it easier?

As a thank you, anyone who leaves a comment here to help me out (any time during the remainder of this week) will automatically go in the drawer to win their choice out of the following three books:

·         Simplicity Parenting - by Kim John Payne

·         Bake - by Tina Bester     

·         Blogging For Bliss – by Tara Frey

Thanks in advance to any of you lovely people who spare a moment of your time to give me some much appreciated feedback... 

Photography above by Jenna Trapasso via Style Me Pretty

Regaining Some Fashion Sense

Outfit above compiled by Kelsey of Evoking You

Back when I was teaching, I took great pride in how I looked at work – fashionable clothes, make-up, hair neatly done and so on.  Somewhere along the line since becoming a Mum, I’ve let all this fly out the window and lost any sense of style I once had.  I can’t remember the last time I wore heels.  I now ‘pop to the shops’ in outfits which previously would have been relegated to the ‘only around the house pile’.  It is a rarity if I actually wear make-up.  And I am rotating between a small number of outfits as I have only been clothes shopping once since having Sophie. 

I’ve decided that while it’s not necessarily important to my girls how I look, it is to me.  Making sure I look presentable does wonders for my mood (and means I’m not worried about ‘who I’ll bump into’ if I’m out and about).  So here are my new rules I’m going to follow to make more of an effort with my appearance…

·         If I’m having an ‘at home day’, no make-up is perfectly fine.  If I’m visiting friends, going to the shops or anywhere else where someone other than my immediate family will see me, I’m going to make a bit more of an effort and put on at least the basic tinted moisturiser, mascara and lip gloss. 

·         I need to overhaul my wardrobe and come up with a new ‘Mummy uniform’ that involves something other than the same pair of tracksuit pants and ugg boots.  Nice fitting jeans, comfortable ‘goes well with leggings’ type pieces and more colour are all things I’m going to try and seek out.

·         I really think accessories can make the world of difference to an outfit and yet 90% of the time lately, I find myself without them.  Scarves, belts, costume jewellery and the like will all be getting dragged out of my wardrobe more often in these coming months.

Do you have an ‘at home uniform’?  Or do you find yourself in the same old tracksuit on days you’re home too?  How often do you wear make-up and accessories?